Satire
Shatranj Ke Khilari /1977/Hindi & Urdu
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) Ray’s first Hindi language movie that tells the story of two wealthy men immersed in the play of chess that they become numb and heedless about the happenning in their surrounding.
2) Undoubtedly a timeless classic for Ray’s formidable deftness for the pick of subject which remains relevant in any timeline its watched.
3) This film credits some big names in performance space like Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Amjad Khan meets the right chord with the viewer.
Ganashatru/1989/Bengali
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) When Ray faced with harsh criticism for his work ‘Devi’ he answered the public outcry through Indian adaptation of “An Enemy of the People”
2) Brilliant in its depiction of the phrase “Religion is an opium of the people”
3) This piece of art paired up with some brilliant performance by Soumitra Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee and Mamata Shankar makes an exemplary watch.
Nayak /1966/Bengali
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) One of the original screenplay written by Ray himself narrating the snippet from the life of a person who is an actor by profession.
2) Very effortlessley but delicately divulges the layer of an actor’s potrait till the point where everything is laid bare.
3) Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore
Mr. Freedom (1968)
FiC Rating: 4.5/5
Dir: William Klein
Why FiC recommends?
1) The American in Paris William Klein has made many films in his lifetime, but none of them have the unique, distinctive edge of “Mr. Freedom” a brilliant satire that is relevant to this day. His arthouse satire on American chauvinism portrays the arrival of an eponymous superhero (John Abbey) in France who is assigned to destroy the enemies of US imperialism.
2) It’s hilarious of course because of the characters and the deliberately over the top absurd dialogues, but in the back of your mind you know that it’s not the characters that you are laughing with but the megalomaniacal stupidity. And there’s a lot of human stupidity in this film. Watch it, have fun, but above all think. William Klein manages with a lot of wit and humor to warn the viewer about what happens if you give a fascist a free hand.
Sulemani Keeda/2013/Hindi
FiC Rating: 3.5/5
Dir: Amit V Masurkar
Setting: Urban
Why FiC recommends?
1) The story of two friends who are trying their luck as script writers and hoping to make it big in Bollywood films. A very simple story yet very engaging.
2) Through pun and satire, the director wants to tell the world how absurd and unstructured the film industry usually runs in India.
Underground (Podzemlje) / 1995 / Serbian
FiC Rating: 5/5
Dir: Emir Kusturica
Why FiC recommends?
Underground is a surreal tragicomic opera on a grand scale from Emir Kusturica. One of the greatest film ever made, winner of the prestigious Palme dOr in 1995, this has been one of my all-time best cinematic experience. The soundtrack is by legendary Serbian composer Goran Bregovic, the best scenes are the ones that featured the brass band marching raucously over the ruined landscape. A Masterpiece!
Peepli Live/2010/Hindi
FiC Rating: 5/5
Dir: Anusha Rizvi, Mahmood Farooqui
Setting: Rural
Why FiC recommends?
1) Satire is a difficult genre. It’s delicate but when curated properly in a film, it just beats other genres. Peepli live is a film to be studied in this regard.
2) It addresses multiple formal and known issues as a country we’re facing. That too how? This amazing screenplay starts as a comedy plot, starts growing – it steps into politics & media, then it makes you sympathetic- it steps into poverty and innocence of people in that drought hit village, by now you start empathizing with these people. It’s a pure win to a cinema as a medium.
Raghu Romeo/2003/Hindi
FiC Rating: 3.5/5
Dir: Rajat Kapoor
Setting: Urban
Why FiC recommends?
1) Smart, sensible and funny. Not logical!! But it’s not always about logic. This is Vijay Raaz’s best performance ever seen. He makes Raghu feel like a person more than a character.
2) Although this is only a light hearted satirical cinema without any heavy duty message, this is the kind of film at end of which you come out as more empathetic and loving human being.
P.S. This is the first movie to be made with money of common man. The director Rajat Kapur had asked for finance from people like us through internet. He got fabulous response and therefore the film could be made.
