Kush

Kush (2013) , an award winning short film directed by Shubhashis Bhutiani ,is a powerful film that makes you weep for the loss of innocence and the fallen state of humanity.The cry of the human heart is for a return to that pristine state ,that garden of Eden existence before evil entered the world. The powerful opening sequence underscores the fragility of human peace .The joyous laughter of the children and the stones neatly piled on each other represent a world which we know is doomed. All it needs is one stone from a catapult to make the pile of stones shatter.It seems like a reversal of the David and Goliath situation.The five smooth stones represent the unity in diversity that supposedly holds the social fabric together but now the sling is in the hands of the biggest boy who sends the stones crashing.

A Lord of the Flies type of situation begins to surface.The children relate to each other as human beings without any appendage of caste ,class,religion or gender.Yet even in their innocence there are undercurrents of cruelty as they tease each other mercilessly.Like lambs to slaughter they are moving towards their first exposure to violence. The almost clinical precision with which a lamb is killed and the first brush with the reality of bloodshed send the children scuttling to the safety of the bus. The bus which was a space for fun and peaceful,albeit raucous, coexistence now begins to take on more sinister dimensions.

The assassination of the Prime Minister by her bodyguards is a betrayal of human trust and loyalty at the macro level.It triggers forces that unleash violence and mayhem in the name of justice.The dynamics of creating the' other 'come to surface as Kush the Sikh boy whose physical difference blended so easily with the rest now becomes a liability.Kush's own bewilderment at his sudden isolation from the group and his desperate bid to erase all differences at the physical level by chopping off his hair is heart-rending. The responses of the driver and the teacher mark two extremes of human responses to this evil.The driver wants to abandon Kush and save himself and others but the teacher confronts the situation, not by daredevil histrionics. but by simply explaining to the children the need to save Kush. What follows is a cat and mouse game as first the police and then a group of lumpen proletariat,political hoodlums search and frisk the children.The interrogation of the children on the basis of caste and religious identity is a scene that makes one cringe,We do this all the time,locate people into neat slots of social identity oblivious to their essential humanity. The children's response to the situation mirrors that of the adults .The breakdown of the bus and the danger that hovers around them brings home the reality that violence is just a hair breadth . away If Kush is the cause of the problem why not just ask him to leave. Ethnic cleansing,holocaust and riots have their roots in this dynamic of us and them.Evil seems latent in man ,all it needs is a trigger.But there is good too, The teacher is a savior by example ,The driver relents,the children refuse to squeal or wilt under pressure and even create a diversion to decenter the rioters.The bus is repaired and innocence restored.

But the forces of violence and terror once unleashed have come home ,the cross on the door and signs of domestic life thrown awry and then the shots of the dead parents have an ominous ring as Kush 's apparent rescue seems to have been in vain. Was it for this that he was saved? How will he respond? Will the scars in his psyche lead to endless cycles of revenge and counter revenge? Is there hope? Yes. As long as there is one teacher who can counter evil with love there is hope.As the greatest teacher who ever lived said."A new command I give you :Love one another.AS I have loved you so you must love one another…… This is a film that needs to be viewed by all whose hearts heed to this call.

Humans have evolved in many ways, but thee are still some areas where we are worse than animals. When it comes to mob psychology, we out-shame even the rampaging bulls. The movie is made very simple, don't expect cinematic brilliance. But it deserves to be seen and shown - mankind needs it.

Great performances and direction. Intimate cinematography creates a very personal understanding of the impact of religious persecution. A must see! It will give perspective and sympathy for anyone but the cold-hearted of the value of true human liberty.

Not knowing the history of events surrounding the aftermath of the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984; this short made for an interesting peek into what might have happened to one little boy called 'Kush' on his way home from a school trip with classmates. I think interesting is at best the word that one could use with this short film as it takes us along a somewhat predictable journey when it comes to story-telling. The tent poles of the three-act structure are observed with a dash of unrelated world cinema and a couple of inexcusable contrivances that stick out at you immediately to the point of distracting you as you think 'Where did he get those scissors?' and 'Convenient that a slang conversation was over heard by one of the kids.' I suppose this could be attributed to director Subhashish Bhutiani's melodramatic/art-house Indian cinema roots and his acquired 'film education' in New York. At this point I should mention that it won the Best Short Film at Venice 2013 and was long-listed for an Oscar for Best short. However, it is best to look past that 'hype' and see the film for what it is. The director does well to keep the acting reins in the hand of his adult actors and limit the child actors from spouting structured dialog and giving them a couple of improvisational moments. The bus driver played by Anil Sharma is very watch-able and gives a nuanced performance. The cinematography and style is conventional and does the job. Apart from the predictability and contrivances, it is the attempt at being unassuming with his ending/twist/reveal in a very obvious way that takes away from the joy of enjoying what could have been a great short film.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- KUSH was one of eight short films nominated for the Satyajit Ray Foundation Short Film Award, that I watched on Tuesday the 15th July 2014 as part of the London Indian Film Festival at the ICA in Central London. Unfortunately I can't post reviews on three of the eight shorts: RANI, ALCHEMY & DEVIL IN BLACK STONE as they don't have supporting IMDb pages.