Indian film Newton travels to Berlin
A black comedy on a clerk on election duty in Chhattisgarh
On a weekend when a couple of mega blockbusters such as Raees and Kaabil are hitting the theatres, one might be apprehensive that the news of Newton, an Indian film, making it to the world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival might get overlooked.
Shah Rukh Khan in and as Raees and Hrithik Roshan starring in Kaabil could well be the beginning of mega Bollywood releases of 2017, however, Rajkumar Rao in and as Newton does demand a lot of momentum in the international arena and promises the much needed gravitas to the art of cinema in India. Having films such as Masaan, Dhanak and Waiting in their kitty for national appreciation and international recognition, Drishyam Films, a unique platform for Indian independent filmmakers based in Mumbai announced their latest feat with Amit V Masurkar’s second film, Newton making it to the 47th Berlinale Forum.
The Forum 2017 focusing on ‘Realistic and Surreal’ will be showing 43 films in the main programme, 29 of which are world premieres and 10 as international premieres, the festival committee announced in a release. Newton is slated to have a red carpet premiere on February 10 during the festival that will run from 9th to 19th of the month.
So happy 2 share tht our film #NEWTON wil have it’s world premier at Berlin i’national film festival.Congrats team @ManMundra @Amit_Masurkar pic.twitter.com/4CPuayojmp
— Raj Kummar Rao (@RajkummarRao) January 18, 2017
A Political Scene
Newton starring Aligarh famed Rajkumar Rao and Anjali Patil is an obsessive satire or a black comedy revolving around the life of a clerk placed on election duty in a conflict-prone area of Chhattisgarh. Depicting smart allegories of political undertones and the crisis of the central character trying to conduct a fair election adds to the layers of humour. After his debut film Sulemani Keeda, the director Amit Masurkar tries to narrate a story of Indian elections straight from the lands where fear of Maoist activities looms large.
Newton was part of the Co-Production Market (CPM) at the Film Bazaar 2015 and also one of the recommendations for the Film Bazaar 2016. The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) created and organised an annual film pitching podium. It is called Film Bazaar which aims at encouraging collaboration between South Asian and international and film communities.
Producing films with a vision
Drishyam Films have emerged as one of the most prolific producers of films in India that travel overseas and adds the most prestigious laurels to their name. Starting with Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi the list followed. While Masaan by Neeraj Ghaywan premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won two awards, Umrika another film from the same production house won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival 2015.
Back in India while the country will be busy to celebrate the box office numbers, films like these might pass by unnoticed. With all hopes on Newton as the first good news for cinephiles in the country, audiences who spend a grand on trash commercial hip movements might just look at the art of cinema from a different angle. The only reason that would suffice the urge is nothing but a sheer need to support good cinema and taking it seriously as the highest form of commercial art.
