Nazar

Mani Kaul's adaptation of the Dostoevsky short story 'A Gentle Creature' is a rather literal one, starring his daughter Sambhavi in the titular role. It is a gloomy, slow-moving drama with elliptic but rather incongruous dialogue. I personally find Kaul's treatment of this material rather too heavy-handed - with all its useless silence, its suggestive music and its meandering camerawork. Still, there is a certain dreamy quality to this, thanks to a chilly cold plot being adapted into a warm tropical urban setting. Not one of Kaul's memorable works, but a curious addition to his filmography for sure.