When Nepotism Works

Sometimes ‘bhai-bhatijawad’ (nepotism) can be useful. At least it was for Jayant Digambar Somalkar who shot his first feature film Sthal (A Match), in Marathi in his village Dongargaon in Maharashtra with his own people as actors. An all-too-real look at matchmaking in the village, tackling casteism, sexism and colourism, the film showcases first-time actors, especially the lead, Savita, played by Nandini Chikte. Filmmaking had to be fitted in between her college exams. Somalkar, a graduate from Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad, came to Mumbai in 2007 because he wanted to do something creative, much against his teacher father’s wishes. And he remained committed to his calling despite a hand-to-mouth existence sometimes. “I had lots of friends and many films to watch so I got by,” says Somalkar, adding that the MAMI festival was his film school. “I would see the films of Iranian directors and wonder why we can’t make such simple, real films,” he says. Well, Sthal is one such film, and it has found a place in the Discovery Program section of the Toronto International Film Festival. So is Team Sthal excited? “Very much so,” says Somalkar, though explaining what a film festival has taken some doing. From casting his cousin, Sangita Sonekar as Savita’s mother, to chasing actors who would go off in the middle of the shoot to help their buffaloes to drink water, Somalkar had the time of his life shooting the film in 22 days. The director drew from his own wealth of experience, whether it was accompanying his cousin to such matchmaking expeditions or being the little boy who had to serve water to everyone. What’s more he didn’t have to train the actors to speak in Varhadi, the dialect of the area. Somalkar, who co-wrote and co-directed Prime Video’s series Guilty Minds with its strong social messaging is now working on the second season as well as another Marathi film. “Kahaani aisi ho jo society se baat kar sake (We should tell stories that can start conversations in society),” he says, adding his story is rooted because he never strayed away from his roots. His family still lives 13km from his village and he still goes back for every important wedding and festival.

Playing Hitler

Bawaal’s choice of the Holocaust as the backdrop to a romance will not be Mumbai cinema’s only excursion into the Nazi era this year. Now comes Alien Frank, a film where Govind Namdev plays Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator who tore Europe apart. The movie is written by Rajesh Prasad and directed by Amar Singh. It deals with a boy from India who reads Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and falls in love with her, while simultaneously hating Hitler. He then has a conversation with an imaginary Hitler about the futility of war. Nitesh Tiwari’s Bawaal too featured a detailed stroll around Anne Frank’s house in Berlin, enough to convince the young couple at the heart of the story that their troubles are nothing compared to what the Jews suffered at Hitler’s hands. Namdev, a graduate of the National School of Drama, spent 11 years in their repertory, which he calls his “golden period”, before finally coming to Mumbai. Perhaps to balance the scales, Namdev is also starring in Gandhi Talks, a silent film with Vijay Sethupathi and Arvind Swami, and as a masala king in Woh Ladki Hai Kahaan with Taapsee Pannu and Pratik Gandhi. As someone who has played Othello, Henry Higgins (George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion) and Lopakhin (Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard), Namdev says he spent a long time looking through old footage to get Hitler’s speech and mannerisms right.

Scene and Heard

So why did the makers of Made in Heaven choose Delhi to shoot again for Season 2? Well, nowhere are the houses as big, the weddings so outrageous, the shoot locations so grand, the class differences so wide, and the power dynamics so tied to the pincode. As Alankrita Shrivastava, one of the directors on the show, said: “Nowhere is the idea of identity so closely tied to power. “Jaante nahin mera uncle/father/ kaun hai?” is not a phrase you hear much of outside Delhi. Nor is the question: Where do you live? So when Tara Khanna (spoiler alert) walks away with a house in the divorce settlement, it only echoes a kind of reality. As does a father-in-law gifting a 4BHK builder floor in Panchsheel Park to his darling daughter, enough for the fiancé to chortle with greedy delight.

Alankrita ShrivastavaBollywoodcinemaGovind NamdevJayant Digambar Somalkar