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Thursday, December 12, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ****
The 1960s were a wonderful time for Indian cinema. The government set up the
Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to impart cinema education and FFC
(Film Finance Corporation) to fund creative cinema. The result - beginning 1969
India saw what is today called `The New Indian Cinema` that resulted in some of
the greatest films ever made in the nation.
Recently, with the advent of digital filmmaking, little droplets of creative
cinema have been foreshadowing another cloud-burst of creativity. However, it
needs patronage. Perhaps NFDC (National Film Development Corporation),
transformed from FFC, would provide that shot in the arm to extremely talented,
but unfinanced filmmakers in India. And The Girl In Yellow Boots (TGIYB),
co-funded by NFDC, could be that game changer.
A British national of Indian origin, Ruth (Kalki), is in India looking for her
dad who had left her when she was young. To fund her trip, she works in a shady
massage parlour charging Rs.1000 to give `happy endings` to her customers. She
is caught up in her druggie boyfriend`s mess but a greater mess awaits her in
the discovery of her father.
TGIYB is good news for Indian cinema for many reasons. Firstly, it is perhaps
India`s first commercially released film to be not just entirely shot in digital
(LSD was the first) but also shot on cameras that are usually used to shoot
stills. Seeing what digital can do on big screen, like LSD, is an experience and
lesson in filmmaking.
Secondly, it will perhaps become the second innings of NFDC. The brilliant films
produced by its precursor FFC in the 1970s and 1980s will vouch for the veracity
of how much creative cinema needs and deserves governmental patronage. In a few
months` time NFDC will also release Dibakar Banerjee`s Shanghai.
Shot in 13 days, TGIYB is spot on in almost all departments. It is carried
forward by a stellar performance from its cast, especially Kalki Kochelin, who`s
also the co-writer.
TGIYB is a statement on modern life and society. The character of Ruth, despite
her seeming loss of innocence and purity, is the purest character in the film.
Yet, like a beautiful flower in full bloom, she is trampled upon by a ruthless
society that ceaselessly uses her. Her yellow boots becomes a metaphor for the
beauty and cheer that is stolen from her.
Violence, though rarely physical, is inflicted upon her till she becomes
insensitive to the innocence of another like her. Her trampling seems complete,
till in the end she redeems himself, by refusing to act as per her impulse.
This is a typical Anurag Kashyap film as it returns us to the themes that form
the backdrop in many of his films - sex, drugs and violence. The quirky
characterization and the pun of language is all there. Who else can pun a name `Chittiappa
Gowda` and pull it off or juxtapose the banal telephonic conversation of a
chatty woman and serious confrontation on phone between mother and daughter at
the same time?
Yet, the film is also atypical of Anurag for unlike his other film he exercises
great restraint. And it is in this control, of not ending the film in violence,
lies its greatest power.
The time is ripe for another cinematic revolution in the country, where
filmmakers are not shackled by nepotistic and uncreative production houses and
corporate houses married only to profits. Hopefully, TGIYB will prove to be the
first, in the many to follow.
Actress Kalki Koechlin has turned lyricist with a new video, titled "Noise", in which she recites a poem written by her to "highlight the value of silence" in our lives. She says she lives in a noisy neighbourhood and sometimes feels like going to the mountains.Read More
Actors can't be role models for every issue: Kalki KoechlinBollywood actress Kalki Koechlin, who is known for speaking her mind, says one of the drawbacks of being a popular face is that people expect you to take a stand on various social and political issues. She says people should realise that celebrities can't be expected to be role models and should only be appreciated for their craft.Read More
‘That Girl in Yellow Boots’ is a thriller tracing Ruth’s search for her father - a man she hardly knew but cannot forget.
Desperation drives Ruth to work without a permit at a massage parlour; a job her boyfriend procures for her. Torn between several schisms, Mumbai becomes the alien yet strangely familiar backdrop for Ruth`s quest. In the metropolis erupting with a million screaming dreams and fears, Ruth struggles to find her independence and space even as she is sucked deeper into the labyrinthine politics of the city`s underbelly.
And everyone wants a piece of her.
