The Land of Cards

Qaushiq Mukherjee also known as 'Q' is known for directing films 'Gandu'. He is well known for making psychedelic films, which have overdose of visuals style of editing cuts like a fashion film with parallel narrative taking you a trip of music and visuals in a world governed by the characters which takes you on journey.

'Tasher Desh' is a modern take on revolution breaking rules and coming out of the shackles of the society. 'Tasher Desh' in English means 'Country of cards' reminds you Satyajit Rays 'Chess Players' and movies like Dreams by Akira Kurosawa and Takshi Kitnao's way of story telling and narrative structure.

The songs of Rabindranath Tagore with new age music bring life to stretched conversations between the writer and the widower and the relationships between the royal prince and the princess and the queen.

The writer's story is in black and white whereas he characters are in color. Mixed with claustrophobia and open spaces of beaches in the land of cards.

Its Rabindranath Tagore's play retold.

I don't know where the fascist aspect of government was coming from in the film's description but I suspect they were trying to be politically correct. This was about a primitive society being run along the lines of primitive beliefs. This film may be contemporary, but the society and the politics is 2000 years old in the film. The only social justice aspect of this might have originated in religion.

The film did not rise to my expectations. Not having read the original poem this movie is based on, means I have nothing to compare it to. That said, I can comfortably state that the production was off. The editing was terrible. Colour management was non-existent. Shots were taken and combined without artistic merit. The photography was terrible. In short, I can go on but won't. I've seen better grade school shoots that presented greater talent and mustered higher artistic merit.

I have decided not to comment on the story as I could only get half way through the movie. Suffice it to say, there are three story lines. Nothing happened in any of them except to show a mentally deranged hopeful play producer in one and a bored prince in another. The third up to that point had no story but might have held some historical significance had there been any context applied to those scenes. As there was no attempt made to manage the expectations of the audience, I will never know.

I actually really like psychedelic movies and programs. When done properly, they raise the production values and artistic merit of the project substantially. This film had none of that. Cuts were tossed into the air and edited together based on how they landed on the floor.

Everything about this film is a complete misrepresentation of what it really is and about. I don't appreciate poor editing skills as being represented as a psychedelic art work. Frankly, that's contemptible. Contrasting timelines is not an unusual method of stylizing elements to a story. There was zero story logic for doing it here.

This was a sadly unprofessional attempt at movie making. No modestly qualified experts were involved in production, only amateurs.

It took me a week and a half to recover from the experience of watching Tasher Desh, a futuristic adaptation of a classic play by Bengali poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore. To say it's a well-known story is an understatement; pretty much every Bengali knows of it; but I'm guessing no one has the kind of imagination that could possibly have interpreted it in the way that Q has.

The entire film is a visual feast for all your senses; most of which are not pleasurable. Unexpected, unsettling and disturbing; the vivid imagery, bold graphics and loud dialogue made me squirm in my seat.

The story flits between three worlds and narratives, the urban metropolis of Calcutta, a derelict and deserted castle inhabited by a young prince bored of living a secluded and sheltered life and Tasher Desh itself, The Land of Cards ruled by a hostile military regime.

As their worlds collide, the viewer is taken on a journey that at times feels like a nightmare and at others looks like heaven. Secluded beaches juxtaposed against the harshness of city living with runaway toy train sets and ancient tribal warriors; the imagery feeds your imagination and curiosity until it can no longer consume any more.

There are infinite ways to interpret Q's Tasher Desh; there is an underlying political voice making it the perfect film to be analysed for an academic dissertation but if you detach yourself from intellectual thought and allow yourself to be drawn into Q's sinister and eccentric vision, you'll be rewarded with the prize of witnessing a film that's fresh and fantastical and guaranteed to influence your dreams for at least the night that you view it…or if you're like me, for a lot longer.

Directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee (of the 2010 cult film Gandu the loser fame) this film, stands true to its word, being a quirky take on the play of the same name written by Rabindranath Tagore. The film's narrative has great shades of surrealism, fantasy and neo noir which as an impressive graph of development where two stories go hand in hand and they intersect at the pre climax , plus after few scenes with hardly any dialogues, the film takes a sweet boost and the rest is assured, drawing inspirations from Satyajit Ray's film "Goopy Gyen Bagha Byen" and the director's own previous work. The best part of the film lies in the cinematography by Manu Dacosee and the director himself, where every frame is a pure work of art and noir, the music score by Neel and Miti Adhikari and Q which takes on the Rabindra Sangeet with a tinge of some loud Western music making every song worth listening, then even editing by Nikon is great that well compliments the narrative, the performances by Tilotama Shome, Joyraj, Anubrata, Imaad Shah and Rii Sen. The film is a must watch for cinema lovers. My rating would be: 4/5. 

The film has been described as a "trippy adaptation" of the Rabindrath Tagore's play. Music and poetry is main soul of the film ,thats reason film move on without boring. You'd either love 'Tasher Desh' or hate it, but you can definitely not ignore it.

The narration has three layers bursting with lessons of life, regarding rules, hopes, desires and fate.It's a story about society and culture, of brotherhood and winds of destiny, of acceptance and revolution. It's a journey of twosomes and foursomes, of abstract and reality.

For those who do not understand Bengali, one needs patience for the film to grow on you to decipher what's happening on screen. And by the time the final song rolls out with patriotic gusto with lyrics that screech: "Break every barrier, let your mind break free/ Do you have the courage? It's a long way to freedom, be free, be pure", and you will probably understand and appreciate 'Tasher Desh'. Or else, as one of the characters say at the very beginning of the film, "You will never understand. Nothing is real. In reality, everything is a fantasy, fiction." Accept the film the way it is. Director Q's treatment of the film is very non-figurative, dramatic and musical like in a music video. It is a grand tour of illusion.