III Smoking Barrels

#IIISmokingBarrels narrates 3 different stories, all based in north east india. Theres a young girl whos kidnapped n forced to join a terrorist training camp. She escapes but doesnt know where to go. Theres a young man whos a college drop out n turns into a drug peddler. Theres another man who gets into the business of killing elephants illegally n earns good money. But when he becomes a dad, he reforms n tries to protect wild life. None of the stories r linked. Good performances, simple dialogues n authentic locations r the plus points. Rating 3/5.

3 different stories from North East india. First two were realistic, but the third one was a huge Eye Opener. Oh! The third was heart breaking one, but very realistic, very true, very harsh. Fantastic job by the whole crew and actors.

III Smoking Barrels is the first ever film I have seen which is set in North East India. And I am yet to see another film which is set in that region. III Smoking Barrels ( I will call it III SB) is a film which will be remembered for many reasons. It's a pioneer in many ways - I have not seen any other Indian film with so many languages & multi-cultural portrayal, I don't know any other Indian film which talks about child soldiers, I don't remember a full death metal gig in any other Indian film, I don't know an Indian film with songs in 4 languages, I haven't seen a film where the "THE END" card appears just before the intermission etc etc. III SB is a raw and wild film - very realistic yet stylish. The film has many layers. Fortunately I have visited NorthEast India in 2012 and I read couple of books on the region so I could see the subtle layers. Though its a crime drama, it deals with many other aspects of life for instance just before Donnie is going to get killed , he tells his mother that he doesn't know when he gonna come back home. In the third story, Mukhtar & Ikram are rural Moslems but they were not shown wearing a skull cap until they are in real trouble. That's a typical nature of we human, we turn towards God when we are in real trouble. But these things are shown in such a subtle way. I couldn't notice them in my first watch though. I think the script is the hero of the film. It is a very simple script but very unique. . Actors are all superb specially Subrat Dutt. I think he deserved a National Award. I quite like the sound of the film too, specially in the 3rd story - jungle becomes live with the ambience sound. One think though I didn't understand in the film is why did the director & the cinematographer decided to show the jungle not so green. Northeast is so green otherwise. I don't normally like anthology films but this film seems to strike a cord. A cult in making for sure.