chauranga
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bikas ranjan mishra doesn' t make the same mistake with his debut directorial film chauranga .
what lets down chauranga is its story, which starts and ends at the same point .
produced by onir, chauranga hits theatres on friday, january 8. (youtube grab )
chauranga movie going to release on next year january i. e. 8th january 2016 .
bikas speaks to pandolin about the genesis of chauranga and all that went into making the film .
chauranga is innocent yet vicious. it’s a must - watch for those who love their cinematic display ‘raw’ .
chauranga is said to be inspired by your village. tell us about it. any references drawn from reality ?
the trouble with ‘chauranga’, despite its crucial subject, is that treads familiar ground without taking the tale too far .
watch chauranga because it is honest, provocative and piercing. it announces the advent of a promising new voice in mumbai
set in the dark hinterland of india where tradition and modernity collide precariously, chauranga is inspired by a real incident .
“chauranga”, directed by bikas ranjan mishra, was adjudged the best film and won the golden gateway of india trophy .
but chauranga deviates from the plot too quickly, and it is more like a documentary on the appalling condition of the dalits .
having said that, chauranga is still worth a watch because of its talented star cast and the brutal representation of rural india .
with a brilliant theme, a narrative structure that flows, and social relevance that hooks the viewer, chauranga makes for a powerful watch .
the 16th mumbai film festival came to a close on tuesday (october 21) evening with films “court”, “chauranga” and “killa” bagging the top honours .
indian films court, chauranga and killa were the big winners at the close of the mumbai film festival (mff), which wrapped on tuesday night .
chauranga is gripping and sometimes churns your insides. it’s unapologetic and startling as you realize that situations like these do ‘flourish’ in the hinterlands of our country .
had the makers of chauranga given their film a befitting end, even the documentary feel wouldn' t have mattered. unfortunately, the end leaves you unsatisfied .
your upcoming film chauranga is the story of a teenager boy. tell us the journey of the film as it was conceptualised in 2012 but is releasing in theatres this week .
the win fetched 20000 usd for the filmmaker. this was followed by the goteborg international film festival fund, sweden, selecting chauranga for the script fund and awarding it 15000 usd .
the 16th mumbai film festival came to a close on tuesday (october 21) evening with films
court
,
chauranga
and
killa
bagging the top honours .
chauranga is a good attempt at reminding us that india is still bound by caste and gender discrimination but it really does nothing more than that. and that' s the biggest problem .
writer - director bikas ranjan mishra’s chauranga is so low - key that it comes across as an unfeeling drama even though the screen is, at all times, busy with multiple pressing concerns .
chauranga is neither provocative nor skillful in its portrayal. though its last scene ushers in a ray of hope to nullify the haunting gory glimpses from the film, it never soars high enough to affect you .
a constant focus on the atrocities faced by the marginalized makes chauranga a special film. it’s the process of finding a solution by magnifying the ugliness in a contemporary light that strikes a chord and marks mishra’s cinematic skills .
in the case of chauranga, the director also needs to explain why he has taken the trouble to cast the heroine of one of satyajit ray’s best - remembered films – swatilekha sengupta from ghare baire (1984) – and then squandered her away. for most of chauranga, the veteran’s face remains in the shadows, and i found myself squinting at the screen to be sure that it was indeed her i was seeing and not someone who looks like her .
pudr demands that this sponge iron factory not be allowed in chauranga, that various industries not be imposed on the people of chattisgarh contrary to their wishes and due process regarding environment laws and gram sabha consent be followed transparently and without coercion .
it can also be looked at in a different way. the hindu caste system is made of four varnas, the sanskrit word for caste. varna means caste as well as colour. so, chauranga is four colors but also four castes .
chauranga, directed by bikas ranjan mishra, won best film in the india gold competition. produced by onir and sanjay suri, the film tells the story of a young ‘dalit’ boy who dares to write a love letter to a girl from a higher caste .
but is it merely enough to hold a mirror? i was hoping chauranga would express more outrage…that it might explore what happens when the oppressed challenge the status quo. that might be a film of our time. this, i’m afraid, we’ve seen before .
when i started writing my film, the process involved introspection. i questioned myself and started thinking about what makes me what i am. this took me back to where i come from – my village. chauranga is in many ways about my childhood and me .
chauranga is inspired from a real incident but my idea was not to reconstruct reality. i used a creative device – i re - situated the story in my own village and imagined it unfolding right there. so, many characters in the film are people i have seen and known in my childhood .
pudr is deeply concerned about the escalating situation in chauranga, near raipur, following the adamant insistence of the factory owner, supported by the administration, in starting work at the raipur sponge iron power ltd factory there, in blatant disregard of the longstanding opposition of the people of the village and the region .
the actor works closely with producer - director onir. their films my brother nikhil and i am received accolades in film festivals around the globe and now he is producing and acting in onir’s upcoming venture chauranga. set in a rural background, the story of a teenager boy has won several awards around the globe .
that caste remains one of the biggest scourges of modern - day india is worth repeating ad nauseam. and that is the burden of this debut feature from a director who knows where he is coming from. the trouble with ‘chauranga’, despite its crucial subject, is that treads familiar ground without taking the tale too far .
over the years, mishra worked on getting chauranga made while running the website, which enjoyed a small - but - regular following, and freelancing for various publications as a cinema writer. meanwhile, he continues to work as an independent screen - writer (he has penned a marathi indie coming out later this year) .
‘chauranga’ is set in a village that is straight out of 1980s parallel cinema’s rural outposts of exploitation and misery. the village is ruled by the dictates and whims of dhaval (sanjay suri), a landlord who has clearly seen better days but insists on slavish deference just like those uncrowned potentates from the films of three decades ago .
chauranga makes all the right noises about the dangers of a patriarchal society, sexual depravity among the religious class, and the need for education. but the film unfolds at such a languid pace, and its narrative is so disjointed (censor cuts, were they ?) you really have to fight yourself to stay invested in the story .
what happens when a 14 - year - old dalit boy writes a love letter to a 16 - year - old upper class girl who also happens to be the village strongman’s daughter? through this young boy, filmmaker bikas ranjan mishra highlights the violence of class oppression that still exists in rural india in his widely applauded film, chauranga .
chauranga is a tirade that rants without deriving a solution to the problem it addresses. despite being a well - intentioned story about the many' isms' that plague india, the film’s narrative fails to explore the dynamics of hierarchy politics that is the heart of the issue. director bikas ranjan mishra seems too distracted in his storytelling, which makes the film half - baked. you are never allowed to invest whole - heartedly in the characters. in this case, the viewer is reduced to being a mere spectator who is never entirely absorbed or overwhelmed by what plays out on screen. atrocities on dalits in india is a subject that filmmakers have frequently attempted, but chauranga lacks an opinionated voice .
about four colors (chauranga), the narrative jury stated: “the jury appreciated the way the film sensitively introduces the audience into a world of cast divided rural india that many of us are not familiar with. inspired by a real life incident, it develops portraits of credible, insightfully drawn and diverse characters that, as renoir said, ‘all have their reasons’. ”
grand jury awards best feature: four colors (chauranga), best actor (tie): j. vignesh and ramesh for the crow’s egg best actress (tie): kalki koechlin for margarita, with a straw and shweta tripathi for haraamkhor feature honorable mention for cinematography: labour of love best short film: dandekar makes a sandwich short film honorable mention: the rabbit (khargosh )
chauranga, directed by debutant bikas mishra, holds a mirror to the ugly reality of the caste system…the violence and exploitation of the poor and the marginalized in a feudal society. evocative of the many ‘art’ films from the 70s and 80s that addressed the same malaise (particularly shyam benegal' s nishant and prakash jha’s damul), the film reveals how little has changed in all these years .
i met onir at the nfdc screenwriters’ lab in locarno. he liked the story and when he read the screenplay he decided to produce the film. onir and sanjay provided me the environment to make the film the way i wanted to. they handled the stressful part of filmmaking – producing, financing and gave me the resources and freedom to make chauranga, the way i had dreamt of it .
throughout 2007, the owner made periodic attempts at starting work. each time, this was met by peaceful protest by the residents of chauranga. following a declaration by the owner, suresh agarwal, on 22 december 2007 that the setting up of the plant is eagerly awaited and that work would start soon, hundreds of people gathered in protest at the tehsil headquarters on 4 january 2008. supported by the nadi ghati morcha, and residents of neighbouring villages, the people of chauranga have now decided to sit on an indefinite dharna to oppose the reopening of the factory. if the state wants peaceful methods of struggle to gain credibility, it ought to respect the demands of the people' s struggles. responding to them through the dissonant language of repression only lends legitimacy to people taking law into their own hands .
there are moments where chauranga gives you the masaan feel, but lacks its poetry and depth. its women characters in this film are pitiable. be it the dalit woman dhaniya who has to satiate the zamindar' s lust to win her sons a ticket to a better life or his own wife and daughter, who lurk around like shadows in his mansion, the women are all singularly uni - dimensional .
there appears to be no other explanation for these performances because, for instance, we know that when he is at his best, sanjay has the ability to pull at the heartstrings in a way that few others can. this, after all, is the man who played nikhil in the pathbreaking, soul - stirring, soul - searching 2005 hindi film my brother nikhil directed by onir, his co - producer on chauranga .
the only member of the cast who ekes some poignancy out of this lifeless film is arpita as the suffering wife. as for the children, riddhi as the older brother has evident potential, but who is to say for sure that the leading little man soham does not? if the energy that the director achieves on screen in the last five minutes had permeated chauranga in its entirety, perhaps the boy would have delivered something more than his sweet face .
four colors (chauranga), directed by bikas mishra, took home the grand jury prize for best feature, with best actress honors going to kalki koechlin for margarita, with a straw, and shweta tripathi for haraamkhor in a tie. the best actor prize, also a tie, was awarded to the young stars of the crow’s egg, brothers j. vignesh and ramesh. a special jury mention was made for the stunning cinematography of labour of love .
‘four colors’ (chauranga), directed by bikas mishra, took home the grand jury prize for best feature, with best actress honors going to kalki koechlin for ‘margarita, with a sraw’, and shweta tripathi for ‘haramkhor’ in a tie. the best actor prize, also a tie, was awarded to the young stars of ‘the crow’s egg, ’ brothers j. vignesh and ramesh. a special jury mention was made for the stunning cinematography of‘ labour of love. ’
the love angle, the anger of the protagonist may remind the viewers of the marathi film fandry and of one of the tracks in the hindi film masaan. but should the déjà vu undermine chauranga in any way? not, when, even as the film gets released, you hear the horrific news of a dalit school boy in jodhpur beaten mercilessly by his teacher for mistakenly picking up a plate meant for his upper caste schoolmates. the caste narrative hasn’t quite lost relevance in india. not as yet .
why ‘fandry’ works so well is that the story propels us towards a shift, and the turmoil caused by it. ‘chauranga’, on the other hand, peters out. the power that a tale like this brings with it, especially as portrayed by the fresh - faced youngsters (maitra and sen feel as if they have sprung from the soil; hiwale is effective as an upper caste bully), and the casual brutality inflicted with frightening entitlement in this day and age on humans, doesn’t have enough impact .
in the caste - class structure the most discriminated against are the women. be it santu’s mother dhaniya or the zamindar’s wife and daughter. in fact, chauranga is interesting in how it shows that a disadvantaged woman could use the exploitation to her own advantage, being more proactive than her mute upper caste counterparts. that, perhaps, is the only way out for her. so santu’s mother dhaniya (tannishtha) will play the sex game if it ensures that her sons can get educated and rise above their limiting situation in life .
as against a seething, fuming fandry, chauranga is a lot more muted and quiet in its rage. but the thread of protest runs through it nonetheless as santu retaliates against each bit of random violence heaped against him or his brother. but the one big act of santu’s dissent involving shiva’s bull, nandi, is as radical, drastic and revolutionary, if not more, than the stone flung at the audience in fandry. protest is all santu has as an empowering tool. and a ride on the train to a more just and equitable world. hopefully .
at the centre of chauranga is a rebel with a cause, an angry young dalit teenager santu (sohum maitra) who wants to seize what he feels he deserves — education and the love of a pretty young upper caste village girl. however, the hierarchies and status quo imposed by the staunchly caste - ist society of his village come in the way even as he closely watches the trains that whiz past his village, without ever stopping, because his village is not important enough for civilisation. is there a way out for him then beyond looking after his pig ?
since 2004, the villagers of chauranga, supported by residents of at least 25 other villages in the region, had been voicing their protest, through occupying the factory site, barricading the village, filing police complaints, submitting memoranda to the district collector and police commissioner and passing resolutions in their gram sabhas against the project. their perseverance has succeeded in stalling the project work to date. however, chauranga reveals to us yet again how government and industry conspire to ram ‘development’ down people’s throats. the administration stepped in to help the owner start the factory with the assistance of police. protesters have repeatedly been beaten by police and faced arrests. in november 2004, when villagers tried to prevent some people starting work on the site, two people were tragically killed in the resultant clash. as many as 33 people have been convicted of murder; 23 of them are undergoing sentences of life imprisonment. these people cannot even challenge the sessions court’s verdict in the high court, as they are unable to afford the legal expenses. the government and factory owner are largely to blame for a situation in which two groups of poor are pitted against each other in what is otherwise a common struggle, one for survival and livelihood .
now, his readers as well as lovers of offbeat cinema will get a chance to see mishra’s love for the medium via another labour of love. his directorial debut chauranga arrives in theatres across the country today after a successful run at various international film festivals. in november 2014, it had won the top prize for indian films at the 16th mumbai film festival, the golden gateway of india award (india gold), beating out the much - praised marathi feature killa. later, in april 2015, it won the grand jury prize (best feature) at the indian film festival of los angeles .
it is a man - made hellhole where a low - caste boy stands only a marginally better chance of survival than a hapless animal. a little later in chauranga, a harmless pig is mercilessly beaten to death by the sightless priest for showing up outside the latter’s home. neither the aforementioned human victim of hate nor the ill - fated pet pig is the fulcrum of this disturbing narrative about blighted lives, crushed dreams and unceremonious deaths. they are, however, symptomatic of how terribly wrong things are in this unnamed, culturally indeterminate village over which an upper caste brute wields untrammelled power. the story’s nebulous setting serves the purpose of underlining the universality of patriarchal and caste - driven violence in india’s rural badlands .
an uncompromising film about caste and sexual oppression in a small village in the chhota nagpur region of jhardkhand, chauranga has taken six years to go from an idea to a full - fledged feature that has been partly crowd - funded and partly funded by a number of entities. these include filmmaker onir (whose company anticlock films is a co - producer), actor sanjay suri (who also plays one of its leads), filmmaker sujoy ghosh, the government - run national film development corporation (nfdc), and others. aside from that, it has also received cash grants from sweden’s göteborg film festival as well as the nfdc’s annual film bazaar, by way of an award for best project in the co - production market .
the story is about children but is not meant for kids. and while the story is set in a rural background, it has an urban taste. apart from producing it, i am also acting in it. i am playing father of an upper caste girl. initially, chauranga got a script development fund from sweden as it raised the socially sensitive topic of caste system which is prevalent in our society. then it got incredible india award from ministry of tourism in 2012. nfdc got involved during the production stage. the film is partly shot in odisha and santiniketan, west bengal. it was best film in mami film festival in 2014 and in early 2015 it got grand jury best film prize at ifla film festival los angeles .
many players, clearly, have placed their faiths in mishra’s first ever feature - length film, which is entirely in an eastern dialect called khortha that borrows from hindi, bengali, and oriya. chauranga largely follows brothers santu and bajrangi (soham maitra, its protagonist, and riddhi sen), belonging to a low caste, who rear pigs with their mother dhaniya (tannishtha chatterjee); it examines their relationship with the family headed by the cruel village alpha - land - owner dhaval (suri) and his daughter mona (bengali tv actress ena saha), who also happens to be the object of santu’s affections. several criss - crossing story threads strive to highlight the realities of caste hierarchies in rural india, the ever - pervasive threat of violence, and the repressed sexuality that is also often hypocritical in its nature .
chauranga is a story of a 14 years old poor boy santu (soham maitra) who is growing in an unknown part of country india. he always dreams to go in a town’s school like his elder brother bajrangi (riddhi sen). the story shows the life of people resides in dalit areas of india, the boy santu enjoys the most to escape a jamoon tree just to see mona (ena saha) who passing with her scooter. on another hand his mother who find herself really helpless in cleaning the cowshed from a strongman mansion to bring some essentials for her family she also has a secret connection with that man. when bajarangi comes to the village in his vacations he comes to know about his brother’s attraction towards mona he makes santu realize that he should speak mone about his love and help him to write a love letter .
the last time indian cinema dealt seriously with the shame of its much - abused caste system was in nagraj manjule ’s furious, extraordinary fandry, a call to revolution against the prejudice still leveled at the hindi dalit caste, a. k. a the untouchables. this anger is transformed into sorrowful, shocking tragedy in chauranga (four colors) which depicts the horrifying treatment given to two bright young brothers and their mother who are scorned and humiliated in their village because of their lowly birth. the setting may be timeless but the drama is all too contemporary; in fact it’s based on a true story that happened in bihar in 2008, here relocated to bengal where first time director bikas ranjan mishra grew up. the film took home the best film prize at its premiere in mumbai’s india gold section, forecasting a healthy festival life and the chance of some art house pick - ups .
awesome acting by ranbir and soonam as well. no doubt paresh rawal did his excellent role. . worth…
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los angeles, ca (april 13, 2015) – the 13th annual indian film festival of los angeles (iffla) concluded on sunday evening (april 12) with a red carpet and gala fete that featured the u. s. premiere of nagesh kukunoor’s gorgeous tale dhanak (rainbow) and the presentation of the festival’s grand jury and audience choice awards .
this year the festival showcased 25 film features, documentaries, and shorts at arclight hollywood, home of iffla since its inception, including four world premieres, seven north american premieres, two u. s. premieres, and 10 los angeles premieres. the films hailed from six different countries, including the united states, united kingdom, france, cuba, and of course india, and featured 10 different languages, from hindi to marathi, to german to bengali .
the grand jury prize for best short was presented to dandekar makes a sandwich, directed by leena pendharker. an honorable mention was given to the rabbit (khargosh), directed by sudarshan suresh .
regarding the short film awards, the jury stated: “we would like to present the grand jury prize for best short to dandekar makes a sandwich by leena pendharker, for immediately immersing us in the playful world of this complex and layered character, delivered with an impressive comedic sensibility. we also present a special mention to the the rabbit, for a moving and memorable debut film by sudarshan suresh. ”
the 2015 narrative film jurors were: director sean baker (take out, prince of broadway, starlet, tangerine); actor / producer abhay deol (zindagi na milegi dobara, dev. d, and road movie), long time member and frequent board director of the hollywood foreign press association (hfpa) yoram kahana; author and film curator berenice reynaud (n ouvelles chines, a city of sadness), and ravi mehta, executive vice president of physical production for warner bros. pictures. judging the short films were star of nbc’s hit show “community” danny pudi, producer and outfest director of programming lucy mukerjee - brown, shorts programmer at sundance film festival lisa ogdie, and heather morris washington, manager of the emerging writers fellowship at universal pictures .
about iffla now in its 13th year, the indian film festival of los angeles (iffla) is a nonprofit organization devoted to a greater appreciation of indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, honoring entertainment industry business executives, and promoting the diverse perspectives of the indian diaspora .
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is creating waves internationally getting support of various film and script funding agencies around the globe .
and onir are producing the film. it recently won the' incredible india' award at the co - production marker of the nfdc' s film bazaar at goa, pipping projects of big names like dibakar banerjee and ketan mehta .
onir and sanjay are also in talks with the german production house pong for a co - production arrangement. they are expecting the jharkhand govt to support the project as well. the film is set in jharkhand and the shooting begins in april - may next year. bikas wants to capture the essence of jharkhand' s summer. he hails from the region and has recently made a short film titled naach ganesh that was in busan international film festival and rotterdamn international film festival selection. it' s the story of a chau dancer from jharkhand .
( rajesh kumar singh is editorial consultant for festivals and markets for bollywoodtrade. com. he is a filmmaker, critic and market analyst )
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chaitanya tamhane’s court won best film and best director in mff’s international competition for first and second - time filmmakers, along with a special jury mention for the ensemble cast. the film, produced by vivek gomber, also recently won best film in the orizzonti section at the venice film festival .
the jury for this section, headed by uk director peter webber, gave the jury grand prize to mexican film gueros, directed by alonso ruizpalacios (see full list of winners below) .
avinash arun’s killa, about a young boy’s problems settling into a new school, was also a big winner in this section, taking prizes for second best film and a special jury award for ensemble cast. the india gold jury was headed by serbian filmmaker goran paskaljevic .
the festival celebrated a successful 16th edition, despite its difficulties in raising funding – it eventually went ahead with donations from local industrialists, filmmakers, audience members and stars. screenings at this year’s three venues – pvr andheri, cinemax versova and the historical chandan theatre – were as packed as usual, highlighting the local audience’s fervent support of the event .
in contrast to previous years, bollywood also threw its weight behind the festival, with stars and big - name directors turning up for the opening and closing ceremonies and a series of ‘film companion’ talks to introduce their favourite films. stars at the closing included aamir khan, madhuri dixit, parineeti chopra and anushka sharma .
mff director srinivasan narayanan expressed his gratitude at the closing ceremony: “for us at mami, the almighty appeared in several forms – anand mahindra, manish mundra, rohit khattar, neeraj bajaj, kiran rao, vinod chopra, anupama chopra and the list is long. thank you all for making possible what appeared to be mission impossible 45 days back. ”
local journalist and critic anupama chopra, who was recently appointed mff creative director, was instrumental in raising bollywood’s support for the festival, which in turn helped bring in sponsors. “there’s so much more we can do – we only had five weeks of pre - production, apart from the programming which happened before, so given that, we haven’t done too badly, ” chopra told screen. anu rangachar heads programming for the festival .
however, the festival organisers say they’re well aware they can’t rely on stars and crowdfunding to finance the festival in future years. “you have to lock in two or three sponsors who create a long - term relationship with the festival, and then have ideas on how to grow it and work with it – you need a five - year plan, otherwise you can’t really do it. but i’m optimistic about that, ” chopra said .
she added: “yesterday i saw an old maharashtrian couple [ from the indian state of maharashtra ] watching a japanese film, and moments like that give me hope for the future. ”
the event confirmed on twitter that it will take place from tuesday 14 to saturday 25 may 2019 .
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this film’s lack of emotional pull is inexplicable at one level because the story covers issues that would tug at the heart of any individual with an iota of conscience and sensitivity. in a village in north india lives a little dalit boy called santu (soham maitra) who longs for an education. his elder brother bajrangi (riddhi sen) is studying at a boarding school in the city. santu, on the other hand, spends his days gazing down from a treetop at a pretty girl (ena saha) passing by on her two - wheeler, on her way from school to home .
santu is unmindful of the dangers of his crush on an upper - caste girl. meanwhile, his mother dhaniya (tannishtha chatterjee) is having a clandestine affair with the girl’s father, the local strongman dhaval (sanjay suri) .
also in this potent mix written by bikas are dhaval’s hapless wife nidhi (arpita pal chatterjee), his clueless mother (swatilekha sengupta) and a creepy priest (dhritiman chatterjee) with a sexual penchant for little girls and beasts. the plot is crying out to be felt. the fact that it fails to move has to be attributed to bikas’ direction and the central casting .
it is one thing to portray the casualness with which caste is practised, lived and accepted in this setting, but quite another to not flinch while doing so. when a couple of high - caste boys coolly throw a dalit kid into a well to punish him for straying into a temple, it should have been a chilling moment. a man’s hand over a woman’s mouth while they have sex in a haystack, to prevent her orgasmic moans from reaching the world, is a brilliant metaphor for the gagging of women and dalits. yet, in both instances, the actors involved are expressionless to the point of being unnaturally so. it is as if the director instructed them to freeze their faces to convey depth .
the casting of the female protagonist though is the film’s biggest mistake. tannishtha may well be a regular on the festival circuit but the harsh truth is that she does not have a strong screen presence and there has been a tiring sameness to her performances in all her recent films. she has had the good fortune of bagging a string of strong roles in her career, but her idea of what some people might call minimalist acting is boring beyond a point. the last time i remember being genuinely moved by her on screen was over a decade back in florian gallenberger’s bengali language german production shadows of time, and then too, now that i look back, i realise it was the powerful story and tragic role that got to me, not her performance .
at the end of the film, i found myself dying to know how onir would have directed this film with a slightly tweaked cast. this is, after all, a story that desperately needs to be told. it just needs to be told better .
debutant director bikas mishra provides us a view of the social microcosm of rural bihar, a world divided between the haves and the have - nots, between the privileged and the disadvantaged, between the landowners and landless labourers. it’s a world where zamindari has been abolished and yet not quite, where they have the upper hand as a matter of entitlement. it’s a world where the lower caste has to go through daily discrimination and humiliation and exploitation of women, whatever caste they may belong to, is a given. the myriad characters don’t just exist as individuals but have a larger role to play — to bring alive the social fabric and its dynamics and powerplay. mishra tries to weave in little details — the all nighter with films, the salman khan and ‘munni badnaam hui’ obsession, the school being used as a janvasa (guest house for the groom’s family) for the principal’s daughter’s wedding, the whole ritual of touching and washing of feet of the upper caste. it’s a world that may feel lost in time to urban india but is it ?
santu and bajrangi (maitra and sen, respectively) are constantly castigated as ‘chhut jaat’ in the village they live in with their mother (tannishtha). the zamindar (suri) lives with his neglected wife, elderly mother and young daughter in a run - down ‘haveli’, and rules with an iron hand - velvet glove policy: lower - castes are to be used, discarded and decimated, whether it is an attractive village woman who over - reaches herself, or a little boy who strays inadvertently into a 'mandir’, sullying it. of paramount importance is the 'shuddhikaran’ (purification) of the temple, rather than the boy who is injured in the flurry .
there’s also a blind priest (dhritiman) who stirs the pot every now and then. and trouble is bound to arise when the unspoken adoration of santu for an upper - caste girl is rumbled, a plot point startlingly similar to the marathi film, ‘fandry’, which is also about caste and societal rigidities and how conflict arises when the downtrodden turn around and demand a shift .
i liked the way the two dalit adolescents keep up their spirits: no excessive drama, no whining. they know their place, and though both react to the oppression differently (one with a kind of acceptance, the other with a flash of rebellion), both come off as naturals. there’s something about the priest which makes you shiver, especially when he pats his pet goat: an intriguing character you wish there was more of .
what’s missing in between is a fluid narrative, which hobbles the film. or is the choppiness down to cuts? either way, this is a film which could have been more .
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shubhra gupta shubhra gupta is film critic and senior columnist with the indian expr... read more
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in an unnamed village in north india, a young dalit boy santu (soham maitra) bides his time watching trains pass by when he isn’t herding his family pig, or spying lovingly on mona (ena saha), the daughter of the all - powerful landlord dhaval (sanjay suri). santu, as you can see, has a rebellious streak in him, unlike his submissive elder brother bajrangi (riddhi sen) who dutifully pays obeisance to the landlord and puts up with routine beatings from upper caste bullies .
one of the more interesting characters in the film is the boys’ mother dhaniya (tannishtha chatterjee), who works for the landlord and is having an illicit relationship with him. although clearly a victim of exploitation, dhaniya uses her sexuality to help negotiate a better life for her sons. her character is in sharp contrast to the landlord’s own wife (arpita chatterjee), who is resigned to suffer silently and do his bidding. there’s also a lecherous blind village priest (dhritiman chatterjee), the very embodiment of evil in religious robes .
against this landscape of entitlement, oppression and violence, mishra offers the possibility of a love story. bajrangi, when he learns of santu’s crush on the landlord’s daughter, offers to write a love letter on his behalf. the result, as you may have guessed, is catastrophic .
life is cheap in these parts, and that point is illustrated effectively in a scene in which an outcaste boy falls into the temple well. the landlord, concerned only with purifying the water in the well, spares no thought for the fatally injured boy who may not make it .
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... it is more like a documentary on the appalling condition of the dalits, feels namrata thakker .
unfortunately, it barely delved into the subject, and left me quite disappointed .
mishra sheds light on how dalits are treated as untouchables even today and how cast and gender discrimination still rules rural india .
yes, we are all aware of these societal problems but as onir (the film' s producer) tells us, in the world of multiplexes and malls, we have forgotten the other india. and rightly so .
certain scenes will make you uncomfortable and give you goosebumps. and even though the film is relatively slow, the first half is engaging, thanks to the well - defined characters .
onir tells us that the film was a 14 - year - old dalit boy, who falls in love with an upper caste girl and writes his first love letter .
dhaval (sanjay suri) is a local strongman who indirectly rules the village and believes lower caste people have no rights. ironically, he is physically involved with a dalit woman named dhaniya (tannishtha chatterjee) .
while dhaval seems to be in love with dhaniya, the truth is he isn' t .
dhaniya, on the other hand, uses her sexual relationship to fund her son bajrangi' s (riddhi sen) education .
she wants to educate her younger son (soham maitra) as well but he falls in love with dhaval' s adolescent daughter mona (ena saha) .
then there is dhaval' s docile wife (arpita pal), who is shown as a victim of superstitions. she knows about her husband' s wandering ways but is a mute spectator because women don' t have a say in anything, even if they belong to the upper caste .
dhritiman chatterjee plays the perverted blind priest and his character made me feel the most uncomfortable .
while all actors play their parts nicely, soham maitra and riddhi sen steal the show. their brotherly equation has been captured beautifully and they light up the screen every single time .
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teenager bajrangi (riddhi sen) knows his place in the hierarchy (at dhaval’s feet) but his younger brother santu (soham maitra) is far more resentful. he chafes against dhaval’s stranglehold and has the temerity to fall in love with dhaval’s daughter, mona (ena saha) .
it is about a dalit boy, who strays into the vicinity of a village shrine. two minions of the local landlord spot him, chase him and push him into a well. when news of the incident reaches the callous zamindar, he spares no thought for the badly wounded outcaste. instead, prompted by the temple priest, he frets over the need to purify the water in the well. his priorities are shockingly clear .
this is the abhorrent social cesspool in which first - time writer - director bikas ranjan mishra situates his stark, searing story of caste violence and religious orthodoxy .
while india’s ancient caste system originally referred to interlocking professions working for the good of society, it is now an inherited system of social exclusion based on birth. at its worst, as shown here, it is conveniently used to isolate a group of people as miserably underpaid servants, forced to do the dirtiest work and forbidden even to set foot in the temple because they are “unclean”. when the mayor is short on food for a festivity, he simply cuts off the bottom - rungers. there’s an eerie parallel to slavery in the american south when the local landowner claims sexual rights over his untouchable, unmarried and apparently compliant maid - servant dhaniya (tannishtah chatterjee). their dangerous, secret rolls in the hayloft have likely begotten two sons .
the rebellious santu (soham maitra) is 14 and wants to go to school, but he refuses to humbly touch the feet of his mother’s benefactor dhaval, played with controlled arrogance by actor - producer sanjay suri (my brother…nikhil .) however, santu’s slightly older brother bajrangi (riddhi sen) does kowtow to this powerful figure, and goes to school .
the brothers have a touching relationship of mutual protection and together they confront a pair older bullies who turn out to be dhaval’s legitimate heirs. in a generally nuanced film, these are ugly characters, mean and totally evil. taking their cue from their elders, they express their sadistic impulses on the more malleable bajrangi, while little santu defies them. every day he climbs a tree to spy on dhaval’s daughter returning home from school on her scooter, and his innocent crush will trigger the tragedy that ends the film on a dark, anguishing note.
chauranga ( hindi चौरंगा ) is a 2016 hindi film . it is the debut feature film of indian writer-director bikas ranjan mishra , produced by onir and sanjay suri . the film was developed at the screenwriters ' lab organized by national film development corporation of india in collaboration with locarno film festival and the scriptstation of berlinale talent campus , a part of berlin international film festival . the film won golden gateway of india award for best film ( india gold 2014 ) at the 16th mumbai film festival . the film was released worldwide on 8 january 2016 . 
chauranga (hindi चौरंगा) is a 2016 hindi film. it is the debut feature film of indian writer-director bikas ranjan mishra, produced by onir and sanjay suri. the film was developed at the screenwriters' lab organized by national film development corporation of india in collaboration with locarno film festival and the scriptstation of berlinale talent campus, a part of berlin international film festival. the film won golden gateway of india award for best film (india gold 2014) at the 16th mumbai film festival. the film was released worldwide on 8 january 2016.
chauranga (hindi चौरंगा) is a 2016 hindi film. it is the debut feature film of indian writer-director bikas ranjan mishra, produced by onir and sanjay suri. the film was developed at the screenwriters' lab organized by national film development corporation of india in collaboration with locarno film festival and the scriptstation of berlinale talent campus, a part of berlin international film festival. the film won golden gateway of india award for best film (india gold 2014) at the 16th mumbai film festival. the film was released worldwide on 8 january 2016.