Court
Description
The Mumbai police desperately want folk singer Narayan Kamble behind bars. After he is arrested onstage at a public performance, Kamble is surprised to learn that he is being charged with abetment of suicide: a sewage worker allegedly heard his poetry shortly before being found dead. What is an obviously absurd accusation, however, is taken quite seriously by the municipal authorities. Kamble’s lawyer, a handsome and well-to-do champion of civil rights—and a veteran of legal battles spawned by similarly fabricated allegations—knows what it takes to win the case and coolly engages with a prosecution that relies largely on stock witnesses and archaic laws in building arguments. As Kamble’s trial unfolds, the film weaves in and out of the courtroom, following both attorneys and the presiding judge into more personal moments: frustrating meals with parents, trips to the grocery store, outings with children. Through these quotidian snippets–always patiently and gorgeously recorded—Court becomes as much an examination of contemporary Indian life as it is of a flawed justice system, raising questions about social and economic structures while vividly painting the individuals who must navigate them. —Julia Nelson
Chaitanya Tamhane was born in Mumbai, India, and studied English literature before beginning to work in theater and cinema. Tamhane’s films include Four Step Plan (2006), a documentary about plagiarism in Indian cinema, and Six Strands (2011), a short about a mysterious woman who harvests tea in the hills of Darjeeling. Court is his first feature-length narrative film.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/122129257?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Marathi, Hindi, English, Gujarati
Year 2014
Runtime 116
Country India
Director Chaitanya Tamhane
Producer Vivek Gomber
Writer Chaitanya Tamhane
Editor Rikhav Desai
Cinematographer Mrinal Desai
Music Sambhaji Bhagat
Cast Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni