Jaya Ganga

I was shocked to find only one review here for a film of this calibre, which is already 25 years old.

Not just any film, but Jaya Ganga, did it really reach so limited an audience? If so there's no justice in the world.

I won't go into the film's plot here; suffice to say it's about a man who tries to grasp both the worldly and the spiritual, and ends up with neither. It is an allegorical story, of Ganga, of India herself.

It's the telling that counts, the journey, the poetry and lyricism, the staggering and fatalistic beauty of Vijay Singh's portrayal and of Vanraj Bhatia / Eric Piederriere's score.

It's a film which asks questions rather than answering them; a film which leaves the viewer with much to contemplate, but also much to revere.

Asil Rais is well cast as the cerebral but unworldly writer Nishant, Smriti Mishra dazzling as the tawaiff Zehra. Something of her rise and fall puts me in mind of Beatrice Dalle's trajectory in Betty Blue, though Zehra is altogether a different character. Along the way there are many beautifully crafted cameo scenes by a strong supporting cast.

One small thing - it would appear that scenes filmed in Paris have been cut from the DVD release: Although I've never seen a version which included them, the DVD extras and credits nonetheless suggest they existed. No matter, this absence perhaps heightens the elusive quality of Jaya, and the film is still a master work by - incredibly - a first-time filmmaker (who also appears creditably in the film, as Sanjay).

Jaya Ganga is perhaps not for the masses; but an absolute must for Indophiles and lovers of art cinema - track it down, you won't be disappointed.