Nasir

Having been a huge fan of IFFR and the type of films that come out of what I would call their school, Nasir was definitely one of the films i was waiting to watch for more than one reasons. And with the news of it competing for the prestigious tiger award. Even before I watched the film I had already told Arun that this film is a winner for me. This film for sure lived up to my expectations or may be even more.

The topic which Nasir speaks about is not something we are not aware of. Arun treats the subject just like its deliberately ignored by the majority which makes the film more special and genuine. You can sugar coat the events but can't deny the truth and this film stands out for the same reason. I have always felt that this type of treatment of the character is the hardest thing to do which can go wrong very easily. But Arun had done an amazing job in slowly developing the character and once you are hooked. Even though the film is full of mundane events happening around a person the horror of the reality you already know hits you hard not only in the end but there is always a tension which constantly keeps reminding you of what will come. In between the tension the film creates there is so much humor as well. The humour reminded me of Tsai Ming-liang telling he never intends to make it look funny but it ends up like that for few. The same is applicable to Nasir as well. Its again very simple things we see or listen to very often but it doesn't fail to deliver the humor. The film raises many important questions but I would still like to know which shirt the couple purchased in the shop where Nasir works.

The use of sound in the film was praised my none other than Pedro Costa, the master himself was impressed. So its definitely one of the best things of the film.

Nasir starts with azaan and end with bharat Mata ki jai. By the end you get to decide which side you wish to stand with and the film never tries to force this feeling but let's you decide.

I hope this film gets a theatrical release because I have a feeling that even with a festival tag, this might work for many people. But will it get a free pass from the censor board is again another question which only time will answer.

Special thanks to Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star for making this film available.

Nothing much happens in Arun Karthick's stunning Tamil feature, and yet every shot is relevant. More than physical bloodshed, the violence perpetrated by off-hand remarks about minorities and about who deserves to live in India, is more dangerous. Which is why that climax really becomes a brutal gut-punch.

Aided by cinematographer Saumyananda Sahi, Karthick's film coils like a snake around the viewer, as it follows the life of Nasir, a struggling salesman working in a clothing shop in Coimbatore. Nasir is a devout Muslim, and yet someone who believes in the adage of "live and let live". The film perfectly captures his growing isolation by focussing on everything happening "outside the frame", in the jokes and remarks about the "other", and by doing so, it holds a mirror to the viewer's own prejudices.

I'm not sure how the CBFC will receive it, or whether any streaming platform in India will pick this up, but it's an important work that deserves to be seen by more people.

(Reviewed as part of the MAMI Year Round Programme Home Theatre initiative)

Nasir is bookended by images of the titular character lying down unconscious, with each of them carrying vastly different connotations. While the opening shot is accompanied by a supremely beautiful rendition of the Azaan, as the camera surreptiously zooms in at an imperceptible pace, the closing frame is an extreme long shot that basks in the stillness of the night. It is a moment when the film, so saturated with the din of everyday life until this point, must also take pause along with the viewer who's just been rendered speechless.

A spectre haunts Nasir, the spectre of religious intolerance: festering within the hearts and minds of Indian people despite their lofty personal ideals and claims of 'unity in diversity'. It takes us along the daily rhythms of a man, with glimpses of his quiet desperation to save up enough to enroll his son into a special school and find treatment for his cancer-ridden mother, despite the flurry of unavoidable expenses. The completely unassuming texture of the drama, helped along by a meticulous sonic design that renders Nasir's universe all the more tactile, reminds us that his forthcoming plight isn't some out-of-the-ordinary exceptional event: but rather, it is the daily reality of thousands and could happen to any of us anywhere.

As the film works its way towards a harrowing denouement (which can be somewhat anticipated), the way it methodically exposes the vulnerabilities of the common man-lacking both financial and political protective power-paves the way for the questions its raises. Thus when the repeating pattern of the steadfast camera and measured framing choices breaks suddenly and without warning-into a handheld frenzy of bodies and chants of "Hail Mother India!"-it catches you off-guard while you are dreaming alongside Nasir of a better future, both for him and his country.

Indeed, you are forced to ask, what kind of a mother would sacrifice her own children? Ultimately, it is the director's own words about his film that resonate the hardest: "I would love to see the day when I cannot recognise the political reality of the film. It would give me great relief for the film to become politically irrelevant someday when all this hatred was only seen and experienced as a thing of the past."

Shot in 16mm, Tamil-language lyrical drama Nasir (given name) did not inspire much in me for the first 60 minutes of its 80-minute running time. But then the final turn of events stuck like a sore thumb, making me question whether it was a pretentious addition of a social-political issue in the middle of a man's life-in-a-day chronicle in modern day Tamil Nadu where also live people from different walks of life trying to make ends meet and occur riots based on community.

Nasir reminded me of Ghamak Ghar (which premiered at MAMI in 2019) perhaps because of its square frame but definitely also because it has a soothing touch to it, thanks to the sombre music and ambience that the film captures of the dense setting (which somewhat gave me jitters while sitting at home during this lockdown).

I still don't know how positively I feel about Nasir but right now, it's just another monologue of a man in India being haunted by everything save his mind. TN.

(Watched and reviewed at its India premiere as part of MAMI's Year Round Programme (Home Theatre edition).)

You can be ignorant of your religion but time and again you will be treated and segregated according to your religion.

Nasir is not a clean and cut portrayal of Islamophobia,it shows even though one wants to live normally i.e gives livelihood first priority other than religion, he can still be a victim.