News

As Ram Gopal Varma’s Department turns 13, Subhash K Jha looks back at the drama in this new installment of This Day That Year.

Welcome to Rgv’s world of muck and mayhem. The one definite thing that must be said about Rgv is that his exploration of the nexus between the law and the underworld is ceaselessly seeking new modes of storytelling. Department is one breathless surge of aggression and violence. Shot with cameras that capture the actors at their quirkiest and most candid, the film is not for those who think cinema is all about style. Rgv left his stylish days behind in Rangeela and Company.

Repeatedly and mercilessly, Rgv dismantles all conventions of pretty storytelling and aims for the jugular. The camera angles are often much too casual to be considered ‘cinematic’. But breaking rules is a given in Rgv’s cinema. He breaks them in Department...

Flix FlashbackMuch of the film is based on Pudumaipithan’s ‘Chittrannai’, with the author’s favourite themes of feminism and male chauvinism underlined in every other scene.Nandhu SundaramI was in my teens when I saw Uthiripookkal (Scattered Flowers; 1979) on TV. I was impressed by what I later realised was the neo-realism of the film. But at first viewing, the movie remained in its allure most elusive. What did director Mahendran get right that others before and since go so wrong? How was he different from Bharathiraja? Why was Uthirpookal relegated to being 16 Vayathinile’s poorer cousin? The questions came from all sides with every viewing of Mahendran’s classic. Uthiripookkal had an urgency that emanated from the director, who populated the film with characters you can’t easily root for. The engine is its main character’s villainy. Actor Vijayan’s Sundaravadivelu is the embodiment of evil itself. His...