Four clutter-breaking critically acclaimed films – ‘Axone’, ‘K.D.’, ‘Chaman Bahaar’ and ‘Ajji’ are now available on the streaming platform
From the plethora of films that get released every year across languages, there are a few that stand out in the way they defy conventional themes, span genres and highlight milieus, characters and issues that don’t usually make it to the cinematic mainstream narrative.
Yoodlee Films, the film production arm from Saregama, has consistently backed such stories and its diverse cinema-scape stands testimony to this fact. Six such clutter-breaking films have just been released on Amazon Prime. ‘Axone’, ‘K.D.’ (Tamil), ‘Hamid’, ‘Chaman Bahaar’, ‘Ajji’ and ‘Nobleman’ (English) – films that caused a great critical stir and won many national and international accolades at their time of release, can now be watched on the platform.
1. Axone: Axone is a solid attempt to bring to mainstream focus the stories and issues of protagonists from the North-East with a sense of empathy, without taking sides. Set in a middle-class Delhi neighbourhood, where casual and overt racism is rampant, it becomes impossible for a bunch of North-east girls to cook even a traditional dish to celebrate a friend’s wedding. Helmed by director Nicholas Kharkongor, the film stars Sayani Gupta, Vinay Pathak, Lin Laishram, Dolly Ahluwalia, Adil Hussain in lead roles. Axone had won the award for Best Film on Comic Theme at the Indus Valley International Film Festival and the Young Audience Choice Award at UK Asian Film Festival
2. K.D.: Ageism, loss, disillusion, zest for life, friendship and rediscovering yourself again – all-important themes that come together in this much-feted Tamil film about a chance encounter between an octogenarian and a young orphan who teach each other (and us) how to make the most of every moment. Directed by Madhumita Sundararaman who won the Best Director award at the UK Asian Film Festival and at the Tongues on Fire Flame Festival, the film stars 80-year-old actor Mu Ramaswamy as K.D and sprightly eight-year-old Nagavishal – who won the National award for Best Child Artist, for his role of Kutty.
3. Chaman Bahaar: Chaman Bahaar is about Billu – played with quiet aplomb by digital favourite Jitendra Kumar – a simple ubiquitous paan shopkeeper in a Chhattisgarh village, who dares to dream a love story of his own with a young girl from a much higher social standing. This is not a flippant film with slapstick humour, but one that shows that almost always social and economic barriers keep people from fulfilling dreams that are bigger than their reality. This bitter-sweet rom-com is directed by Apurva Dhar Badgaiyann, also stars Ritika Badiani. It won the Best Film Award at Indus Valley International Film Festival and Jitendra won the award for Best Actor Male – Music / Comedy at the TalentTrack Awards.
4. Ajji: This Devashish Makhija tour de force takes us into the heart of maternal rage that is quiet, ice-cold, all-observing but unforgiving and unsparing. A grandmother (Sushama Deshpande) plots cold-blooded revenge when the rape of her young granddaughter by an influential goon goes unaddressed by the law-and-order machinery. ‘Ajji ‘ is not a film about vigilante justice but about how certain sections of society are denied even basic tenets of humanity and are stripped of their dignity routinely. This was Yoodlee Film’s first production, and it won the Best Film Award at Beaune Film Festival. Sushama Deshpande won the Flame Award for her chilling performance at UK Asian Film Festival
