Worth: $13.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Swapnil Ralkar, Rashmi Somvanshi, Gaurav Sharma, Vasuki Dhruva Padmakumar Vauka Sunkavall
Intro:
…clearly an important film for contemporary Indian audiences…
The award winning A Billion Colour Story, the debut feature from director Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy, tells the tale of a contemporary Indian family; Parvati is a Hindu, while her husband, Imran, is a Muslim, although crucially both identify as agnostic. The couple are filmmakers who, having lived in Australia, have returned to India to raise their son, eleven-year-old Hari Aziz. Describing his family as ‘Indophiles’ in his opening narration, the perceptive youth introduces the open-minded modern India that they love. But when the boy overhears his parents talking about how hard it is to fund a film project, it becomes apparent that the family will have to forgo the comforts of their middle-class lifestyle in order to pursue their artistic ambitions.
Despite their agnosticism others perceive the family as mixed-religion and they face problems renting an apartment. As the film progresses it becomes clear that there are various ‘hidden’ issues at play; religious tensions, fundamentalism, domestic violence, and other cultural intolerances. Witnessing or learning about these divisive issues, Imran and Parvati develop a new film; their hope is to create a positive vision for the country that they love, a work that will unite rather than divide audiences. The couple meet various producers in a sequence which occasionally verges on the comic, but as the narrative develops deeper tensions once again emerge, and it becomes clear some conservatives are aggressively opposed to their vision.
Using the voice of a child-as-a-narrator functions as a device that gives the earlier sections of the film charm, but as the film progresses and events develop other voices come to populate the narrative too. The shifting tones of the story, which move from the questions and perceptions of the child’s thoughts through to the cultural and political analysis of adult conversations, and ultimately appear as heavy handed. By the time the film reaches its final act the tone verges too close to the melodramatic.
Shot primarily in black and white, the film introduces themes that are relevant not just to contemporary India but globally, and Narasimhamurthy clearly has a genuine appreciation for his subject matter. A Billion Colour Story is clearly an important film for contemporary Indian audiences (a cursory glance online sees largely enthusiastic responses at film festivals), it will be interesting to see what the director makes next.
