Bench Talkies - "The First Bench" - Six for the Price of One !!

A decade back if an individual aspires to become a filmmaker, he/she has to take the classic route of assisting a director who has already proved his worth in the film industry with a few hits. Even to reach that position one has to toil hard at various levels on the sets before climbing that risky ladder which might elevate them or collapse and send them crashing down to the abyss. It was a high risk fair then. Now with the trend of indie films and short films catching up for the past 4 years of so, there is a rampant change in the way films have been conceived and delivered. Even the cost of making a movie with decent production values have come down steadily, thanks to the digital revolution and consequently there is a slew of latent talents on display.

It was not until the 80s that Mani Ratnam broke the taboos around the profiling of a filmmaker. When films and filmmaking were considered as other worldly virtues and confined only to a small group of people who were either stamped as demi-gods or downright losers, Mani Ratnam, an MBA graduate from a reputed business school infused fresh blood not only with the way in which he etched out his films, but also in the manner in which he put across his points through characters which were uniquely allowed to render their dialogues in a chirpy yet not-so audible way, but that in itself had the audacity to break the taboo of rendering multiple pages of dialogues which was prevalent among the filmmakers of that era. There was a huge void for 2 decades to replace Mani Ratnam’s profile, until Gautham Vasudev Menon came to the fore with his burdening engineering degree. Though he took the traditional route of assisting director Rajiv Menon in his tender years as assistant director, he carved a niche for himself both with a slick narrative style and trendy characterization, which bore the director’s stamp and the rest is history. Another director who will find a place in this unique list would be Selvaraghavan. An engineering dropout, who hasn’t assisted anyone before making his first feature.

The above list understandably has only a few big names as it was not until a few years back that the digital revolution took shape. A combination of factors have contributed for this indie movie phenomenon. Anyone who has a passion for filmmaking can have a shot at it without losing their arm. The relative risk here when compared to the classical way is a lot lesser and more “practical”. Also the IT revolution has given a considerable amount of disposable income to young filmmakers of today when compared to their filmmaking aspirants a decade back. Almost one in three filmmakers of today would be having an IT background or that is what I feel. Another major factor that fuels this indie phenomenon is exposure to world movies. Thanks to the availability of pirated DVDs and affordable internet bandwidth that allows individuals to download world movies through torrents. People get a taste of world cinema at the comfort of their homes and instantly identify the scenes or stories that are advertently or inadvertently get tailored to suit the local flavour. The social networking angle has also heavily contributed to this. Video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo help short filmmakers to spread their work and garner instant feedback and Facebook provides a perfect platform to network with the right people, besides allowing them to showcase and link their works. All said and done, the discipline, dedication and hard work to bring out the final product or “good cinema” remains the same and of course the myth at defining a “formula for the hit cinema” remains in a state of limbo. But its a certainty that the new wave directors have made a difference towards filmmaking aspects and the new age cinema is here to stay in order to break a few mythical shackles around films and filmmaking at large.

Director Karthik Subbaraj, one of the poster-boys of the new wave cinema, who has tasted success in leaping to the main league through short films has kick started a very innovative venture called “Bench Talkies” that is aimed at launching amateur filmmakers to the big league by knitting together 6 short films, promoting the same as a feature and getting it premiered through PVR and Sathyam cinemas across major cities like Chennai, Coimbatore and Bangalore. From an indie movie perspective, this is definitely a shot in the arm for all amateur filmmakers who were struggling to showcase their work on a larger canvas. This would certainly do a world of good and encourage novel attempts from passionate souls who are striving to make a mark.

Lets now look at the first bunch of 6 short films which were showcased under name “The First Bench”.

Though the movies were showcased in a different order, I LIKED them in the following order:

1. Nallathor Veenai (A noble veena): The title hinges like a metaphor that is taken from the poem of one of the brilliant yesteryear Tamil poets, Bharathiyar. Directed by Monesh, the short is about a predatory pedophile who preys on young boys. There is a common notion among the general public that only females are subject to or can be subjected to sexual abuse (indeed an ignominious notion). This movie breaks this notion and suggestively creates a hostile aura that keeps the audience entangled from start to finish. The performances were good and the BGM ensured to elevate the movie to a different scale altogether. Very hard hitting and spine chilling scenes were there to add to the authenticity of the narrative. The director has to be lauded for his daring attempt.

2. Neer (Water):  Directed by the man himself, Karthik Subbaraj, this movie had a dual purpose - one, to complete the count of 6 and another to add brand value to the offering as it has a star in the name of Vijay-Sethupathi. Set in a milieu that calibrates the day to day life of fishermen who have to fight for their lives with the Srilankan navy in the mid sea, it also has a finely woven emotional tale of siblings and their boyish rivalry. Vijay-Sethupathi was at his best and the one who enacted the role as that of his elder sibling was equally effective. The movie stands out for the performances and the emotional baggage that it creates in a short span of time.

3. Agavizhi (The eye within): Directed by Gopakumar, this movie is a clash of the subconscious minds. The problem as well as the beauty is that we are not told of whose subconscious minds are unraveled at a particular point in time. The audience are given the thinking hat and one can easily get pissed off with this movie as it doesn't have a start and a finish. In a sense it is a mind bending fiction. In another sense it's an insanely developed multi-layered template that leaves you asking for more. It stands out for its rich production values, good cinematography and slick editing. Abhilash Warrier, the co-writer of the script along with Gopakumar has to be appreciated for coming up with a novel narrative. But I have my own complaints against the censors - I’ve watched this movie as a pay-per-view video and I enjoyed it without the alcohol and tobacco disclaimers and obtrusive beeps. Especially I loved the BGM while the end title card rolls, which was also not there in the theatrical version. Sad!

4. Madhu: Directed by Rathnakumar, this movie was a situational comedy. The situations were funny enough and the witty dialogues that came across were delivered with timing and appropriate modulation to tickle our spines. The lead looks like the typical ‘Selvaraghavan’s’ hero with a bottle of booze always by his side, low on confidence, subsuming himself without having the courage to open his heart to a girl whom he madly loves. He constantly threatens his friends that he would commit suicide but hardly gathers the courage to do so. At last when he gathers all the courage in the world to commit suicide, his friends come to his rescue and that too with the help of the girl whom he is in love with. That forms the crux of the movie. Though the initial portions were funny, the movie could have been crisper had there been a 5 minute trimming towards the end. The friends of the lead have also acted well and the female lead, Roshni Abraham looked cute.

5. The Lost Paradise: Directed by Anil Krishnan, this was a novel attempt at making a movie without any dialogues. It traces the journey (literally) of a man who has been released from prison. He rediscovers himself and strikes a nostalgic chord within himself after visiting his home. In a sense it is a sort of ‘mood piece’, that largely engages the viewers by taking them along with the lead in his journey but falters a bit with a tad bit of length and a few over-the-top lingering of intensely orchestrated emotions. With a brilliant actor like Somasundaram who could have conveyed much more subtle reactions through his body language, the director has overworked him to little effect. Towards the climax, I wish I had seen emptiness in his eyes rather than tears.

6. Puzhu (Worm): A typical example of a ‘mood piece’, Puzhu, directed by Charukesh is an experimental short that starts abruptly and ends in the same manner. The director wants the audience to invest largely towards the mood of the movie because other than the mise en scène there was nothing in the narrative. While lauding such novel attempts it should be considered that these sort of scripts carry an inherent risk of disengaging the audience after a while. Especially when the lead characters who are clearly friends turned foes who are critically injured and are still vying for each other’s blood transform the conversation into an evangelical rant, the patience in us is at a drain. Nevertheless the movie would certainly find its place in the avant garde genre.

What’s the way moving forward…

Karthik Subbaraj has assured that such releases would be made once in every 2 months with a set of 6 short films handpicked by a team of experts. Hope the show gets better in the days to come and makes the lives of aspiring filmmakers much brighter so that at the end of the day, art and artistry triumphs more than individuals and teams!

PS: I have some complaints with the color grading and the frames that lagged on screen. Not sure whether it was the problem with the theater’s projector equipment or the format in which it was projected. Hope these basic issues would be taken care next time!