A crystal clear view of the bureaucratic incompetency, fanciful-entertaining-delayed adjudications & opinions, wisdom taken wrong & nil impetus to usher betterment in the society (contrasting the very inception of judicial system) , Chaitanya Tamhane deserves a wild applaud for his first fabulous feature film.
Australian Premier: Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2015
Director: Chaitanya Tamhane
Cast: Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Shirish Pawar
Genre: Dramedy (Drama and Comedy)
Languages:Marathi | Gujarati | Hindi |and English with s/t
Runtime: 116 min.
Rate: 9/10.
Slapstick, silently devastating and absurd, slice of life yet entertaining- Court is full of substance and its tasteful take on direction and life would make you keep watching it till the end. No melodrama, action, romance, obsceneness, twist or turns, just minimal background score and mind-blowing screenplay & acting- it has already been awarded several national and international accolades for its pure & simple story with an eye opening message. Remarkably, Court is the first feature written and directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, it just affirms that he has lots more sophisticated artistry & experience to showcase as a filmmaker and we are definitely waiting for his future films. His venture kind of shows us a mirror and mind you, you will have a mirthful smirk & laugh at first but sheer embarrassment later at the cynical look of yours. You would think of a courtroom being articulate in their sessions; jury being well polished, concerned and intriguing as people’s fate are decided in that square piece of land. Well…you are correct in your imagination as this all looks only real in our heads. Court shows the reality in acerbic yet with a can’t-do-much attitude: the lawyers are not good orators, the documents are misplaced, racist influence on the prosecution, judge convicts people with bogus charges, and the arguments are technical and redundant and makes you feel amused by the setting, which is yet another day in the venal institutional & judicial world.
Court actually personates the eponymous dialogue by actor Sunny Deol “Tareekh pe tareekh, tareekh pe tareekh” (date after date the case is being deferred to) from the famous Bollywood movie ‘Damini’. Here is how the movie unfolds: Narayan Kamble (Vira Sathidar)A Dalit activist-poet-folklore singer is held ‘responsible’ for the ‘suicide’ of sewage cleaner, arresting him on the grounds of abetment of suicide and is now undergoing judicial remand and hearings.
Source: ZooEntertainmentIndia
Kamble had performed one of his songs near the deceased’s locality just two days before the body was discovered underground, and prosecutor Nutan (Geetanjali Kulkarni) presents a case where it is outlined that it is Narayan’s song songs at that performance which instigated that impoverished workers to shed light upon injustice by eradicating themselves from the society by committing suicide. The trial unfolds in multiple sessions showcasing no urgency or need to establish justice in proper time. Kamble’s defense attorney, Vinay Vora (Vivek Gomber), with all his reattempts almost proves that the death in question was not a suicide but an accident, highlighting the investigating officer & witnesses as incompetent in his perseverance. Prosecutor Nutan who comes from a lower-middle class section should rather have been more empathetic to the case as her personality shown clearly can relate to the situations of these workers and she herself at one point understands that it was an accident but she rather wants to win and get over the case, even if that calls for Narayan getting a 20 year jail sentence. Vindication is far off the horizon. In fact, the witnesses are probed and led into giving the desired answer rather than them stating actually what they want to leading to the accused being royally faulted. The beauty of the movie is that Vinayak hails from a rich family, well educated, well responsive and behaved evene when he would talk to people below the poverty line, drives a car and even pays off Narayan’s huge bail amount just to seek justice even though delayed; while Nutan comes from a lower section, travels via public transport and still shows not even an iota of understanding in this entire situation- such a snide reality. The only thing that could have added more beauty to the movie if the cynical/racist remarks would have been more clear rather than indication which would have made the plea for democracy shining out to the Western eyes.
Funny bit, when you think the movie is about to end, authorities simply find a new reason to arrest Kamble and start the process again. I personally loved the entire filmmaking- it actually makes you feel that you are there performing jury duty.Kudos to the finest & professional ensemble of cast offered; the stark, fixed angles and on-time focus on each of the characters, not to forget the strong lyrical folk lore, so deep and intense yet jolly-I am still laughing at a few stanzas. Whether a cinephile or not, it is a must watch. Brilliant!
