By Kunjila Mascillamani
Bollywood just showered us some good vibes with the release of the trailer of Konkana Sen Sharma’s directorial debut A Death in the Gunj. The trailer looks promising. The film (which seems to be largely in English with a sprinkling of Bengali) set in the late 70s and comes with lots of suspense, from the trailer. This Kalki Koechlin starrer is going to premiere in Toronto International Film Festival in September, this year.
We are nerdily delighted to note that the trailer ends enigmatically with a ‘boot space shot’. A boot space shot is one which looks at people outside as though the point of view of the boot space of a car. It’s supposed to be a characteristic trait of Tarantino like gangster films (which later made its inevitable way into Anurag Kashyap’s subsequent Bollywood versions).
A Death in the Gunj is not the only film from an Indian woman to look forward to in the second half of 2016. The world is in anticipation of Queen of Katwe directed by Mira Nair. The film is about chess prodigy Harriet Mutesi. Lupita Nyong’o plays Mutesi’s mother in this biopic set in Uganda. The trailer does look like a typical Disney movie, but it does tell a story that was not known till now. The portion where the young chess aspirant is told that in chess small can become big and the wonder in her eyes shows the brilliance of child actor Madina Nalwanga who is also a debutant. The film is also going to premiere in Toronto International Film Festival, this year.
‘And if you are a Gurinder Chadha fan take note. Her Viceroy’s House has started rolling. Co-written by Moira Buffini it is a period piece set in 1947 India (Viceroy’s House refers to Lord Mountbatten’s house in New Delhi) The film speaks of the British ruler dealing with the independence of India and his own house which is occupied by indian servants in the ground floor. Will it be thrilling? Will it make us cover our eyes and ears? Let’s wait to find out.
What films by women filmmakers are you looking forward to this year?