Post by leaf on Dec 13, 2013 15:05:03 GMT
Geetu Mohandas was a favourite Malayalam actress of mine in the early 2000s but her focus was always more on direction so it's great to see her make her feature film debut. Cinematography by Anurag Kashyap's fave cameraman and Annayum Rasoolum director Rajeev Ravi.
The nameless millions
Geetu Mohandas’ debut feature film Liar’s Dice has been chosen for competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The actor-director talks about the film that deals with the exploitation of migrant labourers
Making a movie is always a bit of a gamble. For Malayali actor-director Geetu Mohandas it looks like the gamble has paid off. Her debut feature film, Liar’s Dice, has been selected for competition at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival to be held in January in Utah, United States. The film will be featured in the ‘World Cinema Dramatic Competition’ category of the fete, the first Indian film to be selected for the competition after Peepli Live.
Liar’s Dice traces the socio-political situation in the country with regards to migrant labourers and their exploitation, through the tale of spunky Kamala (Geetanjali Thapa of I.D. fame), a young mother from a tribal community in Chitkul, a remote mountain village on the Indo-China border. Kamala and her three-year-old daughter, Manya (debutant Manya Gupta), along with their pet goat, embark on a journey from their village to the deep, dark underbelly of Delhi, in search of her missing husband, a labourer on a construction site in the city. Along the way Kamala meets the gruff Nawazuddin (played by the irrepressible Nawazuddin Siddiqui), an army deserter, who, realising the danger in store for the duo, decides to accompany them on their quest.
Geetu, who is just back from Utah, says that she is thrilled to bits. “The reaction from the international press has been unbelievable. Already, I’ve got requests from 14 or so other festivals across the world to screen the film. After the international premiere of Liar’s Dice at Sundance, which begins on January 14, the film will have its European première at the International Film Festival Rotterdam,” says the actor, who turned director with the acclaimed short film Kelkunnundo? (2009). Geetu’s husband, cinematographer and director Rajeev Ravi, has cranked the camera for Liar’s Dice. Excerpts from an interview with Geetu...
Geetu Mohandas’ debut feature film Liar’s Dice has been chosen for competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The actor-director talks about the film that deals with the exploitation of migrant labourers
Making a movie is always a bit of a gamble. For Malayali actor-director Geetu Mohandas it looks like the gamble has paid off. Her debut feature film, Liar’s Dice, has been selected for competition at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival to be held in January in Utah, United States. The film will be featured in the ‘World Cinema Dramatic Competition’ category of the fete, the first Indian film to be selected for the competition after Peepli Live.
Liar’s Dice traces the socio-political situation in the country with regards to migrant labourers and their exploitation, through the tale of spunky Kamala (Geetanjali Thapa of I.D. fame), a young mother from a tribal community in Chitkul, a remote mountain village on the Indo-China border. Kamala and her three-year-old daughter, Manya (debutant Manya Gupta), along with their pet goat, embark on a journey from their village to the deep, dark underbelly of Delhi, in search of her missing husband, a labourer on a construction site in the city. Along the way Kamala meets the gruff Nawazuddin (played by the irrepressible Nawazuddin Siddiqui), an army deserter, who, realising the danger in store for the duo, decides to accompany them on their quest.
Geetu, who is just back from Utah, says that she is thrilled to bits. “The reaction from the international press has been unbelievable. Already, I’ve got requests from 14 or so other festivals across the world to screen the film. After the international premiere of Liar’s Dice at Sundance, which begins on January 14, the film will have its European première at the International Film Festival Rotterdam,” says the actor, who turned director with the acclaimed short film Kelkunnundo? (2009). Geetu’s husband, cinematographer and director Rajeev Ravi, has cranked the camera for Liar’s Dice. Excerpts from an interview with Geetu...
Mumbai Film Festival Preview | Liar’s Dice
Among the words used to describe the movie Liar’s Dice during its development stages—mundane, boring, simple and linear.
No offence was meant for writer and director Geethu Mohandas, since she was the one using these words. Liar’s Dice, which will be shown in the Indian competition section at the forthcoming Mumbai Film Festival (17-24 October), appears to borrow conventions from the road movie and thriller genres, but it is an echt arthouse depiction of a woman’s quest for her missing husband. The actor-turned-film-maker’s feature debut follows Kamala, who leaves behind her village in Himachal Pradesh to look for her missing husband in the hostile plains below. Little is said and much left to the viewer’s powers of observation as Kamala, played by Geetanjali Thapa, sets out along with her young daughter and a lamb and becomes increasingly dependent on the assistance of a man of mystery whom she meets along the way. Nawazuddin, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, is a keeper of secrets—a gambler, an itinerant and possibly an army deserter, who eyes Kamala with some interest and extends his brusque hold over her as the journey unfolds.
Among the words used to describe the movie Liar’s Dice during its development stages—mundane, boring, simple and linear.
No offence was meant for writer and director Geethu Mohandas, since she was the one using these words. Liar’s Dice, which will be shown in the Indian competition section at the forthcoming Mumbai Film Festival (17-24 October), appears to borrow conventions from the road movie and thriller genres, but it is an echt arthouse depiction of a woman’s quest for her missing husband. The actor-turned-film-maker’s feature debut follows Kamala, who leaves behind her village in Himachal Pradesh to look for her missing husband in the hostile plains below. Little is said and much left to the viewer’s powers of observation as Kamala, played by Geetanjali Thapa, sets out along with her young daughter and a lamb and becomes increasingly dependent on the assistance of a man of mystery whom she meets along the way. Nawazuddin, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, is a keeper of secrets—a gambler, an itinerant and possibly an army deserter, who eyes Kamala with some interest and extends his brusque hold over her as the journey unfolds.