Court (Multi-lingual Film 2014)

    How do you differentiate a good and a bad judgment? Me watching a film called KILLA - the fort, at 16th Mumbai Film Festival-14 and was in Love with that film, a good judgment? And somehow me feeling like skipping Court and watching Yves Saint Laurent instead, a bad judgment.

    After watching Court in the theaters now, I feel that I made a wrong decision back then. Reading the synopsis, I was not much attracted to the film.

My verdict today is - 9.4/10.

    Yes. the film is as overwhelming as that.

    Let me tell you, those who are looking for something like 'Suits' or 'Erin Brockowich', then this is not the film for you. This film is above many standards and not for the people who consider 'Duniyadari and Timepass' (and similar kind of films) as a Super-HIT films.

    This film is very close to realism. This film doesn't boast hyper-colour-corrections, a billion dollars VFX, or actors who charge the makers 3 billions rupees as their fees for the Shit performance they manage to deliver.

    This film is true and genuine. This film is highly generous in making the young film makers learn and remember that a great film has only one Hero - It's Script.

If your script is perfect, you need nothing more to make a very nice film (considering that a maker has a good sense and knowledge basic film making and language of cinema).

    Court (film) is a simple court drama about a single case of an artist, a folk musician-lyricist and singer, who is accused of making a sewage worker commit suicide, because the lyrics of the folk song he performed in a locality said so.

    With a topic that seems so worthless, shallow and futile, this film progresses making the case look impossible, giving it many dimension, depth and unintentional natural drama.  The film takes place in the lower courts in India and the functioning of the court, the offices, the laws and orders that are bent according to the convenience of oneself, taking out an entirely unimaginable meaning out of a silliest thing, perceiving things in a manner that no one would ever want to or ought to... all these traits expressed in this film in a very convincing and satirical way.

    Satire is the crown of this script. Simplicity is the throne, actors - by actors I mean the people who did not ACT the character out but who had BEEN that character to make the film very authentic and the 'incidences next door' type - Actors are the sword, Depth of research by the writer is the shield and the whole film and the way it is made, the treatment, the flow and the direction is what makes COURT the King of all the films made in last two years. (Yes...we do have the QUEEN in our kingdom).

    Chaitanya Tamhane - The pal who started writing the script when he was 23, completed it when he was 26 and was holding the Best Film award at Venice Int. Film Festival at probably 27 and at 28 he is the proud director of BEST FEATURE FILM in whole India, with Golden Leaf at National Award Function.

    Every scene has something awesome in it. Every shot has a reason. There is nothing in this film that is done just like that. Every frame has something to offer you. 'Something' and many things that you can take in, understand and grasp as a viewer. Satire is what made this film a little humourous. But with every laugh you deep down know that your heart did skip a beat with the unfortunate and deliberate immaturity of our society and human nature. Chaitanya shows-off his observations and maturity- making this film easily go, hypothetically, under the name of any veteran and greatest film makers.

    Chaitanya has perfectly chose what to show and what not to show in his film, what to keep and what to edit, how much to keep and how much cut it out. The clarity of his vision is commendable (though I do not know him, I could say it by watching the film).
The shot when the Vora family is coming out of a restaurant and Vinay is attacked is very well and smartly handled.
The cross questioning of the victim's wife in the court - the camera lingering on one person while the questions are asked, no 'unnecessary cut-away's is what I loved.
A very carefully researched and developed, the personal lives of the Advocate, the public prosecutor and the session court judge, is highly impressive giving us the full insight of the characters and their depths.

Things that happen in the film are exactly what take place in the world we live in.

    Drama-Drama is nothing but the smallest of the moments in each and everyone's life that make your minds numb for a moment, it is anything that makes you take a couple of minutes to bring yourself back together. If the situation is truly dramatic you never need high technology and bulk of money to make the audience FEEL the emotion of it. But This film maker is skilled in keeping things simple. It is one toughest thing to do.

    As I say - The most difficult thing is to stay simple.

    Chaitanya Tamhane - I couldn't stop myself and I tried to explore your personality while watching your film. I was trying to read you, peep into your mind and hear your thoughts that you had with you while making it, tried to know the instincts you got in the process. You are one interesting person and You have proved it very efficiently.

-The first and last Shahir's performance (songs) both of which are Bang on, and the girl singing the Portuguese song in the restaurant (slightly trippy and extraordinarily cool)... which one is You?
-The public prosecutor or the Vinay Vora... Which one is you?
-The Judge that slaps a small boy or the boy that cries after the slap... which one is  you?
-The boy who made the film or the guy who wrote it... which one is you?

Chaitanya Tamhane is everything that I am.........! (and of-course... much much more than that).

Kudos to the Team of this Film.