Beloved in Kashmir

“People come up to me in Kashmir and speak to me in Kashmiri. They think I am one of them,” says Gaurav Arora, the actor playing Farid in Season Two of Tanaav. The show, on SonyLIV, is a remake of the Israeli hit Fauda. Directed by Sudhir Mishra and E Niwas, it is an unusual series that looks at both sides of the conflict, the security forces and the terrorists, as well as the citizens who are caught in between. Arora, a former model, was asked to spend 10 days in Kashmir before the shoot began so that he could fit into the geography and the team behind the show. He is glad he did so, because no amount of dialect coaching can replace the sense of belonging he developed while being on set. The team spent two months in Kashmir. For Arora who was joining the cast in Season Two, it was a learning experience. “The people were warm and welcoming and had loved Season One. They felt it accurately portrayed their situation,” says Arora. He knows one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist but as an actor he does not judge his character. Arora says his relationship with his father, whom he has lost is what drives him in the show. For that he wrote a back story for his character that ran into 10 pages. It justifies Farid’s anger and his actions. So what is next for Arora? Some work with Balaji Telefilms as a bad guy with shades of gray.

Flight of Revival

Manoj Bajpayee is enjoying a career resurgence for the fourth time. Since his stunning debut in 1998 in Satya, he saw a revival with Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur in 2012, and then again the Prime Video series The Family Man in 2019 brought him back for the streaming generation. The 2020s are now seeing him fit into the storytelling by a new breed of filmmakers unafraid to experiment with form and format. In Zee5’s new movie Despatch, directed by Kanu Behl, Bajpayee plays a version of the journalist J Dey. Dey was shot dead while riding his motorcycle in 2011 in Mumbai, allegedly by the mafia. The film is an unapologetic take on journalism, especially the crime beat. It uncovers a toxic mix of cricket, real estate, money laundering, and the mafia and yet there is nothing romantic about the way it depicts journalists. With the media in a particularly vulnerable position currently, it is a timely reminder that the rot set in much earlier (the movie is set in 2012). Bajpayee strips himself, literally and figuratively, for the role and is happy to let himself do repulsive things at times. In Raam Reddy’s The Fable, he plays the inheritor of a large estate who could or could not be an angel on earth with the wings of a hawk. The movie has some spectacular shots of the mountains as Bajpayee soars above the clouds. Is he an angel, is he a mythical fairy? The film doesn’t answer the question but it does detach itself from the here and now. It also has the most gorgeous pair of wings I have ever seen in a movie. The Fable has been shot in 16 mm and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. It’s an extraordinary feat of filmmaking, shot in natural light both during the night and day. When technology meets breathtaking beauty something like The Fable emerges. Bajpayee’s ability to be the vehicle for a new generation of storytellers is a testament to his powers of reinvention. He is also part of a new kind of narrative that doesn’t rely on obvious tropes and is able to chronicle new concerns, from the state of the environment to freedom of the press and corporate censorship.

Cuarón’s India Connection

News from the the Oscar campaign for Laapataa Ladies (‘Lost Ladies’ for international audiences) suggests that the great Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón has agreed to become part of it. This is not the first time Cuarón has supported Indian cinema. Cuarón was a Rolex mentee to Chaitanya Tamhane who made Court (2014) and The Disciple (2020). Lost Ladies is mounting a fierce campaign for the Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Oscars. Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light lost out on the official nomination from India but its win at the 2024 Gotham Awards for the Best International Film has bolstered its chances for a win as Best Director. What a year it has been for women filmmakers from India even as one of our finest directors Zoya Akhtar is part of the jury at the Marrakech International Film Festival. A certain kind of Indian cinema has been pushing the envelope when it comes to ideas and it is good that it now has the confidence worthy of its subjects.

Alfonso CuarónBollywoodcinemaGaurav AroraManoj Bajpayee