I would like to start with what 'beerhug' said in his review " I am pretty sure that majority viewers have not got the basic notion of the script."
I don't know how many of you have seen Andy Warhol's "Chelsea Girls", this movie kind of looks like it. The framing mechanisms used closed captions, tiled view points.
The entire movie is shot in B/W, B/W by default adds more drama to a scene (imagine an HDR shot in color and the same in B/W, the later will stand out better). Added to this, the usage of closeup frames (where the environment is missing just the actors present) makes it even more dramatic. B/W has been used by many directors in the past to indicate mundane/monotonous existence. Eg. Schindler's list is shot in B/W except the few scenes in color, it might indicate the grimness of the movie in contract to the bright colorful positive future (shot in color). In contrast, Hey Ram by Kamal Hasan, is shot entirely in color (as the movie is in flash back), but the present (old man in the ambulance) is in B/W showing that the old man in his grim present lives through the colorful memories of this past.
In Gandu, the life of a loser, the only highlight is the scene with the Angel (Rii) his first sexual encounter and something which makes his mundane life colorful, hence the scene in color.
Gandu is a rapper, he writes Rap lyrics, hence the use of Rap all over the movie. The movie is through his eyes.In the movie, his real name is never told, he is always 'Gandu', so Gandu is not an adjective here, but also a proper noun.
Strange is the character of the Richshaw puller. He is Gandu's hero and friend. He is a Bruce Lee fan and practices Kung Fu, Why do I say hero? The scene where Gandu is slapped by Rickshaw, is followed by a scene where Gandu fantasizes of them having sex, a homo sexual dream, which depicts the Alpha male qualities Gandu sees in Rickshaw!
I found the web surfer girl character a bit far fetched, Kolkata girls probably don't sit in an open internet café flaunting their sexuality...
The abusive language totally matches the theme of the movie, I know Bengali, and I have heard local low life's speak, yes that is what they use, if we can promote Dev-D, and The Girl in yellow Boots, and god knows what other movies, then why hit on Gandu?
Coming to On screen ejaculation, well that scene is very cleverly shot, I am sure it is morphed. But that is mot the point here, the point is, that scene fits completely in the mood of the movie.
All in all it ain't porn, it is independent cinema. Yes it is not for everyone, so if you can't take it, please leave it, but lets not call it names.
Q makes a cameo appearance in the movie just like many big directors do. That is when he kind of merges reality with fantasy
Some tech errors I observed: ------------------------------
The first sexual scene, where he steals money, it clearly shows that the woman is lying aside the man, from the angle/position of the legs but they are supposed to be doing 'it'. Also the woman's leg movements don't match the man's 'pushing' at all...director should have been more observant.
The house is almost empty, so they are poor people, but the steel fitting in the bathroom and kitchen look posh, they don't gel in. Poor people don't live in such apartments. I think they shot some scenes in a diff house altogether, if one observes the light switches in the house are old cheap type, doesn't match with the kitchen and the modern kitchen getup.
The subtitles something don't match the actual dialogs, sometimes it is good, as literal translation don't work all the time, but it is sometimes over done, i am sure a better translation could be possible retaining the meaning of the original bong low life abusive.
I don't like the dialog delivery of the main character Gandu, it is not clear, and tail drops a lot, might be cheap recording instruments too, or a bad preview copy, but i think his speech is a bit too slurry (ppl say the over all sound recording of this movie is below expectations)
The video scenes (games/porn) have the electrical interference patterns we used to see in scenes from 1970 movies,
I would have expected his mother o be naked in the sex scenes, the bra always messes up the power of the scene, makes it unrealistic. perhaps with his budget he couldn't get an actress to show her breasts
The scene where Gandu is caught stealing, it clearly shows they(mother and Das) are doing 'it' with the 'bra on', the next scene the mother comes to slap him 'IN THE NUDE', a full back view of her behind is shown, but no bra, lack of continuity, no one pauses during sex, gets up from bed takes their bra 'off' and goes to slap their son :)
I don't know how many of you have seen Andy Warhol's "Chelsea Girls", this movie kind of looks like it. The framing mechanisms used closed captions, tiled view points.
The entire movie is shot in B/W, B/W by default adds more drama to a scene (imagine an HDR shot in color and the same in B/W, the later will stand out better). Added to this, the usage of closeup frames (where the environment is missing just the actors present) makes it even more dramatic. B/W has been used by many directors in the past to indicate mundane/monotonous existence. Eg. Schindler's list is shot in B/W except the few scenes in color, it might indicate the grimness of the movie in contract to the bright colorful positive future (shot in color). In contrast, Hey Ram by Kamal Hasan, is shot entirely in color (as the movie is in flash back), but the present (old man in the ambulance) is in B/W showing that the old man in his grim present lives through the colorful memories of this past.
In Gandu, the life of a loser, the only highlight is the scene with the Angel (Rii) his first sexual encounter and something which makes his mundane life colorful, hence the scene in color.
Gandu is a rapper, he writes Rap lyrics, hence the use of Rap all over the movie. The movie is through his eyes.In the movie, his real name is never told, he is always 'Gandu', so Gandu is not an adjective here, but also a proper noun.
Strange is the character of the Richshaw puller. He is Gandu's hero and friend. He is a Bruce Lee fan and practices Kung Fu, Why do I say hero? The scene where Gandu is slapped by Rickshaw, is followed by a scene where Gandu fantasizes of them having sex, a homo sexual dream, which depicts the Alpha male qualities Gandu sees in Rickshaw!
I found the web surfer girl character a bit far fetched, Kolkata girls probably don't sit in an open internet café flaunting their sexuality...
The abusive language totally matches the theme of the movie, I know Bengali, and I have heard local low life's speak, yes that is what they use, if we can promote Dev-D, and The Girl in yellow Boots, and god knows what other movies, then why hit on Gandu?
Coming to On screen ejaculation, well that scene is very cleverly shot, I am sure it is morphed. But that is mot the point here, the point is, that scene fits completely in the mood of the movie.
All in all it ain't porn, it is independent cinema. Yes it is not for everyone, so if you can't take it, please leave it, but lets not call it names.
Q makes a cameo appearance in the movie just like many big directors do. That is when he kind of merges reality with fantasy
Some tech errors I observed: ------------------------------
The first sexual scene, where he steals money, it clearly shows that the woman is lying aside the man, from the angle/position of the legs but they are supposed to be doing 'it'. Also the woman's leg movements don't match the man's 'pushing' at all...director should have been more observant.
The house is almost empty, so they are poor people, but the steel fitting in the bathroom and kitchen look posh, they don't gel in. Poor people don't live in such apartments. I think they shot some scenes in a diff house altogether, if one observes the light switches in the house are old cheap type, doesn't match with the kitchen and the modern kitchen getup.
The subtitles something don't match the actual dialogs, sometimes it is good, as literal translation don't work all the time, but it is sometimes over done, i am sure a better translation could be possible retaining the meaning of the original bong low life abusive.
I don't like the dialog delivery of the main character Gandu, it is not clear, and tail drops a lot, might be cheap recording instruments too, or a bad preview copy, but i think his speech is a bit too slurry (ppl say the over all sound recording of this movie is below expectations)
The video scenes (games/porn) have the electrical interference patterns we used to see in scenes from 1970 movies,
I would have expected his mother o be naked in the sex scenes, the bra always messes up the power of the scene, makes it unrealistic. perhaps with his budget he couldn't get an actress to show her breasts
The scene where Gandu is caught stealing, it clearly shows they(mother and Das) are doing 'it' with the 'bra on', the next scene the mother comes to slap him 'IN THE NUDE', a full back view of her behind is shown, but no bra, lack of continuity, no one pauses during sex, gets up from bed takes their bra 'off' and goes to slap their son :)