Movie Review: Gandu

In many ways, middle-class West Bengal is more liberal and modern in outlook than the rest of India. When it comes to the use of expletives in social life; however, sophisticated and cultured Bengalis tend to maintain a sort of Victorian Conservatism and cringe at the usage of swear words in popular media. The general view about the depiction of sex in media is likewise. Until very recently it was extremely unusual to find any demonstration of a vulgar vocabulary in Bengali movies; except for the somewhat benign (and more socially acceptable) Shala ("wife's brother") or Shuorer Bachcha ("son of a pig") thrown in here and there, and those, too, were rare. In the past decade or so, there has been some change in that paradigm, with some recent movies presenting sporadic occurrences of expletives, including the Ch-words (a family of Bengali equivalents of the F-word and derivatives), especially while depicting the colloquial style of gangsters and goons; in an attempt to make their portrayals more realistic. Nonetheless, such usages are generally very limited and occupy a minuscule fraction of show time. Barring a handful of recent exceptions, nudity and sex have been taboo as well.

The Bengali movie-goer, therefore, was startled last year, upon hearing of a movie titled Gandu, a Bengali slang loosely meaning worthless, or idiot, having the connotation of the word "Asshole" and rarely used in civilized society. Such a name was unthinkable; the word being considered unparliamentary by the urban upper middle-class. The trailer of the movie soon became available on youtube; and revealed scenes and language that would be considered vulgar, nay repugnantly obscene by most cultures, not just Bengali. As the internet-friendly younger generation frantically searched for a download link on torrent (this reviewer included); it was learnt that the movie had obtained quite a few favourable reviews worldwide and bagged a couple of awards here and there. To my knowledge, it was never officially released in India; in all probability, it couldn't pass the censors' scissors.

After having somewhat forgotten about the movie and the frenzy its trailer had created, I finally had an opportunity to experience it recently; thanks to the internet. It certainly was a strangely interesting experience.

The movie is named after the protagonist; a young guy who lives with his mother, a prostitute. The plot, thin as it is, revolves around the life of Gandu; his frustrations and aspirations. It depicts his relationship with his mother, his experiences with pornography, his visits to the neighbourhood cyber cafe, his friendship with a Rickshaw-puller named Rickshaw, his passion for creating Rap music and finally, his heroin addiction. Indeed, almost half of the movie is a continued depiction of his hallucination while he and Rickshaw were under the influence of the drug. In terms of expletives and depictions of nudity and sex the movie far surpasses its predecessors. Dialogues are richly adorned with profanities and nudity and sex scenes are available aplenty throughout. Some of the scenes would in fact put to shame a hardcore pornographic film and questions have been asked whether there was any artistic necessity for such depictions.

While the peculiarity and the boldness of the movie are striking, there is clearly a lack of substance in the plot. But then again, the movie is perhaps not so much about a central story as much as it is about the ideas it attempts to convey to the audience. A fundamental theme of this movie is addressing the frustrations and perversions of a sexually repressed society. The central character represents this very society. Not only do others call him Gandu, but he himself associates with that name; indicating that he too sees little worth in himself. Rap music is a channel to vent out his anger which stems from his sexual frustration. His complicated relationship with his mother, his constant ogling at the girl at the cyber cafe, his fascination with pornography and his raunchy hallucinations while on heroin; all imply too clearly his state of mind. Indeed, given the nature of the theme, it is no wonder that the scenes are explicit, too powerful perhaps for the general audience (this reviewer included); but meaningful nonetheless.

A second, somewhat less significant theme of the movie is that of a worthless loser dreaming to overcome all obstacles to achieve something big. This is reflected through Gandu's winning the lottery, or his becoming a famous Rapper (it seems that he doesn't really get famous; he only hallucinates of becoming so), or the dedicated attempts of Rickshaw to learn Kung Fu. This of course is a more clichéd topic and has been dealt with at length. A third aspect of the movie is a take on drug addiction; the environment that creates it and the downward spiral that ensues.

The movie is shot almost completely in black and white and has a good number of outdoor shots. There are only a handful of actors; the most famous of whom, Shilajit, is only seen while engaged in intercourse. As the mother, Kamalika, a seasoned actress, has been tolerably good. The characters of both Gandu and Rickshaw have been enacted by newcomers and they have both been excellent. The lead actor, Anubrata, has given a bold and raw performance (Incidentally, he has meanwhile obtained the notorious honour of having acted in a particularly explicit sex scene in another Bengali movie). The middle aged man at the lottery store and the girl at the cyber cafe have both done fine jobs.

Overall, Q, the director (he apparently calls himself by that name) has done an interesting job in creating a particularly unusual movie; the likes of which many viewers may have never encountered. By many definitions it would qualify as porn and yet it would be a mistake to ignore the message it conveys. Many would find the free flow of obscenities and elaborate depiction of sex and nudity shockingly repulsive; and yet these are the things that make the movie what it is.