Court
Filmfest 2015
India 2014
Original version with English subtitles
(Original: English, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi)
German Premiere
Director: Chaitanya Tamhane
Section: CineVision
A sewage worker's dead body is found inside a manhole in Mumbai. An ageing folk singer is arrested and accused of performing an inflammatory song, which may have incited the worker to commit suicide.
Artscope/Momento Films International
So much has been done and said in the genre of courtroom dramas. But when I attended a nondescript lower court in suburban Mumbai, the sheer lack of drama, and the casualness with which life and death decisions were being made, was what sparked my imagination. Every face has a story of its own; the stenographer who disinterestedly types away all day, the peon who runs errands for a small bribe, the inarticulate lawyers reading out long, technical passages from outdated law books... Amidst all this theatre, are the hopes and fears of ordinary people, who cling on to every word they can understand, as their fates are decided... The challenge for me was to lend dignity and humanity to these people, despite their flaws.
Chaitanya Tanhame
Cast: Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Usha Bane
Credits
Screenplay: Chaitanya Tamhane
Director of Photography: Mrinal Desai
Film Editor: Rikhav Desai
Composer: Sambhaji Bhagat
Production Designer: Somnath Pal, Pooja Talreja
Costume Design: Sachin Lovalekar
Sound: Anita Kushwaha, Amrit Pritam
Producer: Vivek Gomber
Production Company: Zoo Entertainment
World Sales: Memento Films International
Director: Chaitanya Tamhane
