Alexa Altmann
‘Court’ depicts the arrest and consequent trial of an elderly folk singer and grassroots activist who stands accused of inciting a sewage worker to commit suicide. The film depicts the absurd procedurals of the trail fraught with institutional incompetence, caste prejudice and venal politics, as well as the everyday realities of the characters’ lives. The ponderous trial with its privileging of arcane colonial law is in itself a form of punishment in its harassment of a man who is advocating for change. Tamhane portrays the deep dysfunctions of the Indian judiciary while simultaneously reflecting on the power of language and freedom of expression which is not only threatened by the state or the legal system but also by self-appointed guardians of culture. The film’s persuasiveness lies thus equally in Tamahane’s both tragic and comedic narrative and the distinguished performance of its professional and nonprofessional cast, as finally in its localized portrayal of matters of global relevance.
THE CARAVAN
By SUHIT KELKAR | 1 October 2014
LATE THIS AUGUST, the Film Forum of Manipur made a bold announcement. The state’s apex industry guild and regulatory office, which ensures that all films abide by censorship rules imposed by local separatist groups, slapped six of the regional industry’s actors with a six-month ban. The punishment was meted out for failure to support protests for an “Inner Line Permit” system in Manipur. The ILP system, which requires outsiders to get special permits to visit a state, is in force in Nagaland, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, where tribal populations see it as a protective membrane over local ways of life.
The actors, each of whom has about ten to twenty films in the pipeline, argued that they had never received a notice to attend the protests. The Film Forum’s Executive Council refused to accept the excuse. In early September, Laimayum Surjakanta Sharma, the Forum’s chairman, told me over the phone that the ban would hold, although actors were free to act in music videos. “We will see how much they support our campaigns in the near term,” Sharma said, hinting at the possibility of a commuted sentence. “We are giving them a lesson.”
– See more at: Manipur Masala