Liar's Dice
Written & Directed by: Geetu Mohandas
Cinematography by: Rajeev Ravi
Awards: National Film Award for Best Actress, Best Cinematography, India's Official Entry to Oscars 2013, Official selection at Sundance
The film has a similar premise to Kahaani, only that there the woman who's searching for her husband is pregnant and here the woman is a mother. But the tonality of this film is not even remotely close to that film. This film has a neo-realistic tone to it, the handheld shots, the color palette, and the guirella film making techniques used to shoot Delhi. The scenes in Delhi, especially the hotel room scenes, are blocked and composed in such a way that the claustrophobia seeps into the psychology of the audience seamlessly. The fish-eye/wide focal lengths used to capture the landscapes in Himachal Pradesh and the tight framing of the hotel room scenes bring in a contrast and it conveys the discomfort, the characters are facing.
Kamala played by, a brilliant, Geethanjali Thapa has that vulnerability throughout, both internally and externally expressed through eyes and body language respectively. Nawazzudin, is brilliant as well. The best part about him is that he absorbs very well, he reacts to situations very well. There's that unpredictability about this character and that expresses the point of view of Kamala, as to how she feels about him. Sometimes, you like him and sometimes you don't and sometimes you even doubt if he wants to cheat them.
The story as a whole speaks about the struggle of Kamala who's in search of her husband. I was expecting more about the dynamics between Kamala and Nawazuddin. Since, we don't know who Kamala's husband is, it is difficult for us to feel strongly moved by the ending. Kamala's reaction to the event is more haunting than the event itself. It's similar to the ending of Ugly, but there I felt a lot more hit than here. It might be because of the way, the information is revealed. Of course, such haunting information can be haunting irrespective of how it is conveyed to the person related but for us to feel in a similar way, I think the revelation could've been done in a better way.
Films which make a social commentary as a subtext or even directly are appreciable because they're trying to voice their concerns about the society through cinema. But their films should be good enough even if the social commentary doesn't exist, if the social commentary is what makes the film then is when it tends to get preachy. The structure of the screenplay otherwise should work as an interesting story, then adding social commentary as a subtext can work but writing by keeping the social commentary in mind can lead to mediocre writing on the physical layer. I'm not saying this about this film, it's about films in general.
Films which make a social commentary as a subtext or even directly are appreciable because they're trying to voice their concerns about the society through cinema. But their films should be good enough even if the social commentary doesn't exist, if the social commentary is what makes the film then is when it tends to get preachy. The structure of the screenplay otherwise should work as an interesting story, then adding social commentary as a subtext can work but writing by keeping the social commentary in mind can lead to mediocre writing on the physical layer. I'm not saying this about this film, it's about films in general.
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