Gandu (film)

Last updated

Gandu
Gandu poster.jpg
Directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee, known as 'Q'
Written bySurojit Sen
Qaushiq Mukherjee
Produced byTaha Kamran
StarringMehmet Celepoglu, Akadora Celepoglu
Cinematography Q
Edited byManas Mittal
Quashik Mukherjee
Music by Five Little Indians
Release date
  • 29 October 2010 (2010-10-29)(New York City)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali

Gandu is a 2010 Indian erotic black-and-white art drama film directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee. [1] It features Anubrata Basu, Joyraj Bhattacharjee, Kamalika Banerjee, Silajit Majumder, and Rii Sen in the lead roles. The film's music is by the alternative rock band Five Little Indians. [2] Gandu previewed at Yale University before making its international premiere on 29 October 2010 at the 2010 South Asian International Film Festival in New York City. [1] Gandu was an official selection at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival and was also screened at the Slamdance Film Festival. [3]

Contents

Gandu has received mainly positive reviews from critics. John Reis called it "a stunning visual and narrative feast" [4] while Variety said it is "a happily transgressive rhyme-fueled romp". [5] Gandu has caused some controversy because of language and scenes of nudity and sex. Many audiences left during the sex scenes. [6] Because of the controversy the film did not have its first public screening in India until 2012 at the Osian Film Festival. [7] The main star Anubrata Basu is shown with his penis fully erect in a sex scene with Rii Sen. [8]

Plot

The movie is set on the life of an unnamed protagonist who is called Gandu by most who address him in the movie (an Indian slang/swear word that would literally translate to 'of the ass'; the English translation running in the subtitle translates it to the English 'Asshole'). Gandu is portrayed as a frustrated teenager whose state of mind is shown by intercuts of him rapping in Bengali (it is later revealed in the movie that he is also the member of a rap band). Gandu's mother seemingly supports the family through the magnanimity of her 'lover' Dasbabu. Gandu's mother and Dasbabu are shown having graphic sex a number of times. Gandu himself is shown repeatedly sneaking into the room of the copulating couple to steal money from Dasbabu's wallet, which he uses to buy drugs and play games in Dasbabu's Internet Cafe. Gandu seemingly has complex emotions regarding this stealing and takes care to hide it from his mother.

Gandu is also apparently quite lonely. His choice of hairstyle (shaved nearly bald) and general proclivity to drugs and rap make him an object of ridicule with most of his peers, who mock him as 'Egghead Gandu'. His loneliness is dispelled when he literally bumps into 'Ricksha', a cycle rickshaw driver, who slaps Gandu and then scares him off by a bizarre show of kung fu. That night Gandu has a dream of himself and Ricksha in a near naked embrace.

On one of his stealing missions, Gandu's mother sees him and hides him from Dasbabu and seemingly laughs in complicity. This causes Gandu great anguish and he curses in frustration. His mother then comes and knocks on his door. He is late in responding and she slaps him angrily and walks away.

Gandu urges Ricksha to 'take him away'. They go off to consume Dhatura seeds which causes them both to go on a strange and extremely intense hallucinogenic trip. When they come to their senses they find they have no money. In a meta narrativistic scene the director Q himself drives into the scene and Gandu is told by Ricksha how Gandu is a character in a movie being shot by Q. Gandu cannot quite comprehend this.

Gandu comes back to Kolkata to find that he has won the Bhutan State lottery of fifty thousand rupees; then he gives his mother some of the money and goes on a crack binge with Ricksha. Ricksha then admonishes him for never having actually slept with a woman despite incessantly rapping about cunt, pussy and sex. Gandu then has surrealistic and very explicit sex with an unnamed hooker, who constantly meows and at the end of coitus whispers 'demo' to him. Gandu goes back to Ricksha telling him how he will now record a demo of his rap and show it to the Asian Dub Foundation. The movie closes with Gandu finally becoming successful. Gandu also ponders on the meaning of life and what we must do with it.

Cast

Production

Gandu was shot in Kolkata on a limited budget with only eight crew members. It was filmed in black and white with one scene in color and had no official script. Q used a high-definition Canon EOS 7D Single-lens reflex camera to shoot the film. In order to prepare the cast for their nude scenes, Q required them to undergo several workshops in which they used boal techniques. Rituparna, who plays several different roles in the film, is Q's real life girlfriend. [9]

Title track

The film's soundtrack, composed by the Calcutta-based alternative rock band Five Little Indians and mixed by London-based producer Miti Adhikari, garnered rave reviews.

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee</span> 8th Chief Minister of West Bengal

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is an Indian communist politician and a former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who served as the 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. In a political career over 5 decades, he became one of the senior leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist) during his regime.

<i>Anuranan</i> 2006 film

Anuranan is the directorial debut by Bengali filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. The film premiered at the 2006 International Film Festival of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raja Sen</span> Television & film director

Raja Sen is an Indian film and television director and the winner of three National Film Awards from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the father of Subhasree Sen and Sreyoshri Sen.

Y2K is a 2000 Bengali short film from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, written and directed by Chandril Bhattacharya.

Bye Bye Bangkok is a 2011 Bengali comedy drama film, directed by Aniket Chattopadhyay. It featured Swastika Mukherjee, Rajesh Sharma, Silajit Majumder, Rudranil Ghosh, Kharaj Mukherjee, Anjana Basu, Locket Chatterjee, Sonali Chowdhury, Kanchan Mullick, Kanchana Maitra, Neel Mukherjee, Rajatava Dutta, Biswajit Chakraborty, Sudipa Basu and others.

Qaushiq Mukherjee, popularly known as Q, is an Indian film director known for his controversial cult film Gandu. Though he is fond of classics like Ritwick Ghatak but despises Satyajit Ray.

<i>Chatrak</i> 2011 Indian film

Chatrak is a 2011 Indian Bengali erotic drama film directed by Sri Lankan director Vimukthi Jayasundara. It was screened at several film festivals worldwide, including the Directors' Fortnight at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>Icche</i> 2011 Indian film

Icche (English:Wish) is a 2011 Bengali language Indian drama film directed by Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy. This is the debut film of the director duo. The film is based on Suchitra Bhattacharya's novel and revolves around the relationship between an obsessive mother and her son. The film was presented by Rituparna Sengupta.

Tasher Desh is a 2012 Bengali-language fantasy film directed by Q. The film has been described as a "trippy adaptation" of the 1933 Rabindrath Tagore play by Indian media. It begins with a nihilist playwright searching where the play, 'Tasher Desh' by Rabindranath Tagore is being played. He goes to major play theatres in Kolkata like The Academy of Fine Arts but no one has a show of Tasher Desh in the near time. He finally writes his own adapted script of the play by Tagore and completely immerses himself into it. Most of the dialogues and all the songs in the film are from the original play by Tagore while director Q is picturising himself as the playwright. It features Soumyak Kanti De Biswas, Anubrata Basu, Tillotama Shome, Rii, Joyraj Bhattacharjee, Tinu Verghis, and Immaduddin Shah in the lead roles. Tasher Desh made its international premiere on 11 November 2012 at the 7th Rome International Film Festival. The film had its release in India on 23 August 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rii Sen</span> Indian actress (born 1978)

Rii Sen is an Indian actress who works in Bengali cinema. She started her career as a freelance model and television actress. Her debut film was Tepantorer Mathe, but it was not released in theatres because of obscene scenes. Sen had participated as contestant in Bigg Boss bangla season 2 and she was the 2nd runner up in the show. She has acted in movies like Bishh, Gandu, and Cosmic Sex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anubrata Basu</span> Bengali film actor

Anubrata Basu, is a Bengali film actor. Born in India, he started acting through local theatre performances. He received his first commercial acting break with Anjan Dutt's Madly Bangali, where he played one of the main characters, Benji. Since then he has acted in films like Chatrak and Gandu. In Gandu, his performance attracted controversy, as he appears nude, with his penis shown fully erect and engaging in non-simulated on-screen sex. Ever since he is known fondly in the industry as 'The Gandoo'.

<i>Goyenda Gogol</i> 2013 Indian film

Goyenda Gogol is a 2013 Indian Bengali suspense film, directed by Arindam Dey and produced by Supratik Ghosh under the banner of Ishani Films. Based on the story Sonali Parer Rahashya by Samaresh Basu, the film features child actor Ahijit Ghosh and Indraneil Sengupta in the lead roles. It boasts of being the first film to feature a tattooed Bengali private detective. Saheb Chatterjee and Rachana Banerjee also play parents for the first time in this film. The film was released on 24 May 2013.

<i>X: Past Is Present</i> 2014 Indian experimental film directed by Nalan Kumarasamy

X: Past is Present is a 2015 Indian collaborative feature film directed by a team of eleven filmmakers including Abhinav Shiv Tiwari, Anu Menon, Nalan Kumarasamy, Hemant Gaba, Pratim D. Gupta, Q, Raja Sen, Rajshree Ojha, Sandeep Mohan, Sudhish Kamath and Suparn Verma. It features actor-director Rajat Kapoor and Anshuman Jha in the lead. X is not an anthology, but one whole story with the eleven directors making sections of it. The film has been produced by Manish Mundra and has been announced for a nationwide release in India on 20 November 2015.

<i>Cosmic Sex</i> 2013 film directed by Amitabh Chakraborty

Cosmic Sex is a 2013 art-house independent Indian Bengali-language film written and directed by Amitabh Chakraborty and produced by Putul Mahmood. The film deals with the connection between Sex and Spirituality.

<i>Open Tee Bioscope</i> 2015 Indian film

Open Tee Bioscope is a 2015 Bengali language Indian coming-of-age comedy-drama film released on 15 January 2015, directed by director Anindya Chatterjee, who is the well known vocalist of the band Chandrabindu. The film is a coming of age story of an adolescent boy and his friends.

Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF) is a Bengali film festival in the city of Hyderabad and is being organized annually since 2014. The venue of the festival is the Prasad Film Preview Labs, Hyderabad. The first edition of the film festival was held in the year 2014. It is the only curated Bengali film festival in India.

<i>Abyakto</i> 2018 Indian film

Abyakto (transl. Unsaid) is a 2020 Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by Arjunn Dutta, starring Arpita Chatterjee, Adil Hussain, Anubhav Kanjilal, Anirban Ghosh, Lily Chakravarty and Kheya Chattopadhyay. While the film was showcased in various festivals from 2018, the theatrical release was on 31 January 2020. Abyakto received critical acclaim.

<i>Ahaa Re</i> 2019 film by Ranjan Ghosh

Ahaa Re (2019) is a critically acclaimed Indian drama film written and directed by noted Bengali filmmaker Ranjan Ghosh. It is the third feature film by the director known for his earlier works Hrid Majharey and Rongberonger Korhi. It features Bangladeshi actor Arifin Shuvoo, Rituparna Sengupta, Amrita Chattopadhyay, Paran Bandopadhyay, Deepankar De, Shakuntala Barua, Bangladeshi Cinema film actor Alamgir in a special appearance as a restaurant owner. The film is produced by Bhavna-Aj-O-Kal.

<i>The Parcel</i> 2019 Indian film

The Parcel is a 2020 Indian Bengali-language mystery cum psychological thriller film directed by Indrasis Acharya, produced by Rituparna Sengupta and Krishna Kyal. The film features Rituparna Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Anindya Chatterjee and Ambarish Bhattacharya in lead roles and Sreela Majumdar and Pradip Mukherjee as supporting characters. The story of the film revolves around a doctor-couple and Nandini, the protagonist, and mysterious parcels.

<i>Kishmish</i> 2022 Indian Bengali-language film by Rahool Mukherjee

Kishmish (transl. Raisins) is a 2022 Indian Bengali-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Rahool Mukherjee. This film is jointly produced by Dev Entertainment Ventures and M. K. Media. The film stars Dev and Rukmini Maitra. The supporting cast includes Kharaj Mukherjee, Anjana Basu, June Malia and Kamaleshwar Mukherjee.

References

  1. 1 2 Priyanka Dasgupta (19 November 2010). "'Why this shame about sexuality?'". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "Gandu Finds Its Groove". The Times of India . 7 February 2011. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Shamik Bag (14 February 2011). "Tradition with a twist". Mint. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  4. ↑ John Reiss (29 January 2011). "Exciting times in Park City". Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  5. ↑ John Anderson (30 January 2011). "Gandu". Variety. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  6. ↑ Shalini Langer (20 February 2011). "Berlin buzz: Meet Q, Kolkata director who doesn't mind his Ps". Indian Express. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  7. ↑ Ganguly, Ruman (27 July 2012). "Rituparno's Chitrangada to premiere at film festival". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  8. ↑ "GANDU: An Explosive Film that Melds I STAND ALONE with 8 MILE in the Ghetto Hood of Calcutta" Hammer to Nail.com. Published 30 January 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  9. ↑ Sudhish Kamath (30 December 2010). "A telling tale". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  10. ↑ Meenakshi Shedde. "'G--- will win over fans exhausted with the tried and true'" . Retrieved 24 February 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.