Gandu

Q wanted to be noticed with his first independent venture and this film accomplishes it, especially the nothing-but-shock-value sex.

Q has an uncanny ear for local dialogue and some of the exchanges are wry, ironic and sometimes hilarious. He's sketch of the flirty cybercafe Bengali girl is possibly one of the truest sketches I have seen. Also the street talk of lowlifes is bang on.

But then - what? Where does this all lead to? Gandu builds up great expectations, then does not deliver. I felt as frustrated as the main character - empty and wasted.

As is typical of many those who are attracted to film via the superficials - pithy dialogue or "the look" or sensationalism, that only works on the underlying framework of a solidly good story. You cannot erect a memorable film without a solid foundation of plot, character arc or a satisfying ending.

I feel sad that this potentially great talent will only swim on the surface and end up being forgotten unless he goes deeper to see what makes good stories work.

Bengali cinema desperately needs a new voice, a new testament and my fear is that unless Q respects STORY and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, it will be all downhill for him from here.

Why is that the ancient spiritual Indian culture only produces talent incapable of true introspection? Who destroyed our image of ourselves? Why must everything we do be a copy of a copy of a copy?

I am not quite aware whether the director was inspired by Andy Warhol's "Chelsea Girls" or not but the film certainly highlights that exact frame mannerism of presenting the story for cinematic viewing like the one presented by Warhol in "Chelsea Girls".

The film consists of some erotic scenes which are explicit in nature but most certainly not pornographic in any way whatsoever.

The script was innovative for Indian audience though I am pretty sure that majority viewers have not got the basic notion of the script. The cinematography was brilliant must congratulate Kaushik aka Q for that. Lyrics were certainly explosive in nature but truth cannot be denied from it.

Acting is good especially by Anubrata(Gandu) and Joyraj(Rickshaw), Rii is hot but she did not got enough leverage to showcase her acting abilities. Komolika(Mother) was good in her role and Shilajit(Das babu)....well he was just the jolly good fellow.

I have only one complain that the sound was not recorded properly and at times background score became too noisy to hear the dialouges with proper effect.

Must say a good step forward for Indian cinema and kudos to Overdose Joint for thinking out of the box.

I'm surprised artistic movies like this exist in Indian cinema. A complex yet simple to the core story of a Gandu in bengali streets. Explicit but with taste, not for the light hearted or close minded.

The director, actors and crew all think their making a life changing masterpiece. Far from it, just something that has been done over and over again by others, but they did it better.

Having stumbled across my review of the director's previous venture Bishh on this site (written some four years ago), there came a natural compulsion to jot this down as well.

After the experience of Bishh, my expectations when I finally came across this 'banned' film was not high. The steamy trailer did little to pique much interest although it became a rage among the online (and offline) masses. To be honest, it felt somewhat gimmicky and I was afraid the film was going to turn out to be something similar. Well, it didn't.

Gandu is, despite its name, brilliant. The moments of transgression this motion picture dares to make were outlandish, perhaps even 'affected' by a certain sense of the word, but never fails to make a mark. The cinematography is vibrant, the music stimulating. The writing may not have been perfect, but what do I know of perfection... I liked it. There was a profound 'honesty' to the angst (I was tempted to write 'psychedelic honesty') and it was provoking, even without a blunt before the show.

Joyraj and Anubrata were perfect to the T & Rii was her best yet. Kamalika was hauntingly natural. The direction had a rudderless precision to it that strikes the right chord, and the interesting play of subtitles didn't harm one bit.

I don't know if I can agree with a fellow reviewer calling it one of the best Indian movies ever (although I 'dug' the Midsummer quote), but Gandu is definitely a benchmark as far as Indian Independent Cinema is concerned. It's art, and a fine piece too!