17th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL April 30-May 7, 2017
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dissdash.com NYIFF Celebrates South Asia’s Biggest Documentaries: A Glance At The Top Nominees For Best Documentary
Sneha Johny
29 April, 2017
The New York Indian Film Festival, commonly known as NYIFF, sets one of the biggest stages for celebrating some of the choicest films relating to the Indian subcontinent. It unravels documentaries and feature films that are the work of many Indian filmmakers, with movies such as Slumdog Millionaire and The Namesake joining its ranks.
This year’s edition of the film festival brought to the fore films that encompassed difference, and challenged the society’s inherent atypical ideas. DissDash explores the five movies that were nominated under the Best Documentary category.
An Insignificant Man
Directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, the documentary An Insignificant Man unearths the story of India’s popular political party, the Aam Aadmi Party.
It chronicles the initial, yet stupendous rise of the political party, led by Arvind Kejriwal.
A well-written script, and one that instantly hooks the viewer, are its perks. The documentary reveals itself as a slow thriller, showing how the party rose to shake some of the biggest powerhouses in India. The documentary focuses on Kejriwal, but also provides a glance into other political leaders such as Yogendra Yadav, Dr. Kumar Vishwas, Somnath Bharti, and Manish Sisodia, who charted equal acclaim in India’s political circles. Although the movie proves to be entertaining, with light-hearted moments shared by former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit during the elections, the storyline could have played out a critical aspect in the film.
Mostly Sunny
Dilip Mehta’s Mostly Sunny features the popular Sunny Leone’s life story, from how a young Indian girl from Canada stormed to infamously take to the screens, as a porn star, and later as an actress. Born Karenjit Kaur Vohra, the film focuses on the celebrity that Sunny Leone became after her initial controversial start, with not much reference to her screen career
The movie is open and vivid about the atmosphere around the porn industry, and shows her talking with open frankness about her decisions to make it big in an industry notorious for controversies. The film also throws light on how poorly her family and others in her community reciprocated to her decision. It reflects on how many from her hometown had refused to talk about her, or acknowledge her choices. While many call judgement upon her career, the movie plays out to show how she still gains popularity across extravagant events and other elite social circles.
With great cinematography, the movie inches to make an impact, while it highlighted the many differences in one’s society through a straightforward, classy tale.
One of India’s top filmmakers, Gautam Pemmaraju, took to telling the story of an old, traditional dialect, Dakhani, that was spoken across Hyderabad in India. In his documentary, A Tongue Untied, he moves to elaborate the story of how the language was born in Indian history to where it stands in today’s modern world.
The movie is light and very humorous, pointing to ingrained satire in the language itself. The film shows how Dakhani, at one point, used to be spoken as a regular language in the society’s everyday life. It was included in texts and literature, and all political and legal affairs were held in Dakhani. Although, the current scenario portrays its dwindling prominence in India’s language sphere and shows how Dakhani is no longer a language in use. The movie shows how the culture is almost lost, and takes a look at the poets, humorists and artisans from a bygone era during the 1940’s.
The movie shows how time has passed, and awakens the viewer to a culture that’s almost slipping into non-existence. A fun, light movie, it does not miss much honesty in its storyline.
Sakharam
Directed by Sarthak Bhasin, the movie portrays the story of Sakharam Mangya Bharat, a 65-year old farmer from Thane’s Dengalmal Village. The village, infamous for having no water supply or taps, has forced most of its community to switch to polygamy in an effort to couple more hands to fetch water from a well that is at the foothills of a nearby hill. And so, the movie plays out to show how Sakharam found an interesting way to marry three times, so as to be able to get additional help for farm work and for fetching water. Albeit providing a glance into India’s rural community and their everyday struggles, the film is a tad bit slow after the initial narration. The story offers a grim peek into the realities of the villagers amongst some of India’s rural regions and the constant battles they are entangled in.
The film, truly an eye-opener, is a well-scripted and researched story that must not be missed.
The film OM: Old Man reveals the story of amateur ham radio operators. Directed by Geetha J and Ian McDonald, the film unravels the tale of VU2JN, an elderly ham operator from Southern India. Its narration is set amidst the excitement of election campaigns of an older era that straddled India’s complex political structures. The interesting name comes from the title that is bestowed on a ham operator, irrespective of their age.
Glorifying an operation that was almost forgotten in the hustle of today’s modern world, the movie plays out a wonderful tale of how a ham operator engages in vivid conversation across many important personalities. During the freedom movement in India, ham operators played a significant role in the fight for India’s independence.
Knotted in the politics of the state of Kerala in South India, it offers an enriching glance into the cacophony of the exciting lives led by ham operators. A well-shot film, delving deep into the intricacies of this often misunderstood operation, the movie is highly captivating.
Foraying their way into the prestigious NYIFF has pitched these documentaries to a new high. We wish the finalists the best of luck as they clamber for that big win at the festival.
