Screened as part of NZIFF 2015

Court 2014

Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane World

This provocative legal drama from Mumbai puts a singer on trial for inciting suicide. “A startlingly clear-eyed and multifaceted vision of a society that remains damagingly mired in outmoded traditions.” — Slant

Aug 01

Paramount

Aug 04

Paramount Bergman

Aug 05

Paramount Bergman

India In English, Gujarati, Hindi and Marathi with English subtitles
116 minutes CinemaScope / DCP

Director, Screenplay

Producer

Vivek Gomber

Photography

Mrinal Desai

Editor

Rikhav Desai

Music

Sambhaji Bhagat

With

Vira Sathidar (Narayan Kamble)
,
Vivek Gomber (Vinay Vora)
,
Geetanjali Kulkarni (Public Prosecutor Nutan)
,
Pradeep Joshi (Judge Sadavarte)
,
Usha Bane (Sharmila Pawar)
,
Shirish Pawar (Subodh)

Awards

Horizons Award
,
Venice Film Festival 2014

Festivals

Venice
,
London 2014
,
Rotterdam
,
New Directors/New Films
,
San Francisco 2015

Elsewhere

On trial: an elderly poet and singer of protest songs charged with inciting suicide. Antiquated features of the Indian legal system are enlisted to silence dissent in this richly detailed and provocative court drama. A prize-winner in Mumbai and Venice, Chaitanya Tamhane’s film has been widely admired, not least for taking time to understand the individual lives and motivations of the key players entrammelled by the laborious machinations of the law.

“The story is simultaneously hilarious for its ridiculousness and tragic as a result of its unfairness. As we watch the infuriating trial unfold over months, Tamhane uses the down time to examine the intimate lives of those involved. The defense lawyer’s family just wants him to settle down. The female prosecutor is respected in her professional career, but still cooks dinner and follows orders from her husband and children. The film explores caste system prejudice in a grander sense, while also telling a riveting tale of a singular victim whose life may never rise above his status.” — Casey Cipriani, Indiewire