La forteresse

What a performance ....by each and everyone in the movie..... really cool....The scenic beauty is awestruck. Typical Country Side look. In short...simple...elegant and really heart touching.

Having spent my childhood in Konkan, I couldn't resist getting nostalgic feeling throughout the movie. The movie goes on in a smooth rhythm. All the characters and the events feel so real. All the actors are perfect in their respective roles.

In many scenes the surroundings speak more than the dialogs. Although, I thought the Marathi language was not exactly how people from Konkan would speak.

The photography is very beautiful. Especially the monsoon and the sea are shot beautifully. The sequence shot on the fort was a delight to watch. It is one of those few movies which stays with you even after it is over!

This movie has theme floating all around... primarily about what life has to offer is bizzare feeling..it's upon us to feel it in the right way. It deals with a single parent problem.It tells the challenges one face due to dislocation. It draws a picture of childhood and what we see through innocent eyes mean more than what it seems from distant. The movies setting..nature..ponds..ocean..bridge..lighthouse..these are those things that we remember from our own childhood. These places have stories of their own. Boy meets a fisherman to say..and has an experience that changes him or makes him realise..to be grateful. Dialogues are very precise.camera work is so delicate that u miss urself in the scene.and come out at the cut. This is one of the best coming of age that u will see.

There are many pieces of art that touch your heart, but only some of them can hit you personally, make you feel that whatever happened to you is universal – that something can be intensely personal and shared at the same time. Killa is the latter – a fine piece of art made with such loving attention to detail that hits and stings your heart.

Made by cinematographer Avinash Arun, this national award winning film is a moving tribute to parenthood and coming of age. A story about how a single parent is transferred from the bustling city of Pune to a small sleepy town Guhagar with her 11-year old son Chinmay. A widow – she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her husband and is always questioning her parenting; a child who has just lost his father – Chinmay is grappling with his own issues of abandonment.

A new place, new school, new friends – all Chinmay wants to be is accepted. Not that he realizes that. What follows is his personal discovery of friendship and himself. A tale of realizing that sometimes, it seems like the world is coming to an end, but it's not. Of realizing that true friendship has its way of coming back to you. Of realizing that the first big heartbreak in your life need not always be a romantic relationship, and being okay with that fact.

Killa is about that one moment that defines the end of childhood as we know it. That one moment that changes our perspective, is more often than not sad, but in all probability – makes us a better and stronger human being. Killa will resonate with anyone who has poured his heart and soul into the act of making friends and relationships; with anyone who can trace that exact moment in their life when someone broke the rose-tinted glasses they viewed the world with; with anyone who appreciates the power of silence over words that mean nothing.

Sensitive direction and gorgeous cinematography by Avinash Arun, fantastic performances by Archit Deodhar and Parth Bhalerao and images and moments that stay with you for a long long time after you've walked out of the theater, Killa is an absolute gem and another gem from the new wave of Marathi cinema that continues to impress and delight.

Last night I caught this charming Marathi film 'Killa - The Fort'. I feel sorry over having missed this in the cinema. Oh well, at least DVD. Captured from the world-view of young Chinmay (Archit Deodhar) after he moves to a new town on account of his widowed mum's job transfer, the film strongly reminds me of RK Narayan's wonderful novel 'Swami & Friends'. With that literary classic it shares a gentle observational tone, the episodic nature of events told and the ability to see things from a child's point of view. The performances of the young actors are spot on (as also the adults, especially the lovely Amruta Subhash as Chinmay's mum), and although there's never any major unpleasantness, it doesn't try to sugarcoat / idealize the behavior of the kids or talk down to them. It also reminds me slightly of Francois Truffaut's 'The 400 Blows', though a lot more positive in its outlook.

Director Avinash Arun is also the DoP and he does a fabulous job, especially when capturing nature. The shots of dark clouds overhanging the titular fort and the subsequent shower are hugely atmospheric. Editing is also unobtrusively fine, and while there are no songs (thankfully) a lovely melodic instrumental score permeates several moments of the film.

The DVD from Video Palace is good. The image is somewhat soft but seems intentional in the cinematography. No extras, which is a bit of a bummer, but there's a short message from the director on the inside of the (nicely done) digipack talking about his childhood and how it inspired him to make the movie. On the whole highly recommended, unless you only see 100 crore movies.