In Search of Famine

Just adding what I inferred as the message of the movie (Caveat: I am not an avid film buff and see very few movies in a year. So my interest and exposure to films is limited. This may be considered before the reader takes any of my ratings/comments/reviews seriously. Given this rider, I am open to correction anytime by anyone.)

The film tries to convey the message that there is often thin and blurred line between fiction and reality.

In the movie, the villagers fear that playing the role of a 'fallen woman' would make a woman a 'fallen woman' in the eyes of society (the villagers).

Similarly the film crew is insensitive to the villagers need and does not think it is creating a 'famine' by taking away the village produce for its own extravagant consumption.

'Aakaler Sandhane' (In Search of Famine) to my mind is one of the best films Mrinal Sen ever made. His superb touch, some puckish humour and sense of drama is backed up by some wonderful acting. No wonder this film simply ran away with every award in India and the Silver Bear in Berlin.

The story is about a film company which sets out to make a film on the Great Bengal Famine of 1943. They select a village in rural Bengal for outdoor shooting and start work. The story weaves around the trials of the troupe in the village.

To me, the best part of the film is the way Mrinal Sen interlaces three distinct themes. The first is the superficial story of the film company and the difficulties they face. The second is the class distinctions conservatism and prejudices that permeates village society and the third is a scathing criticism that 50 years after independence, stark poverty still exists and famine still stalks the land.

1st watched 12/27/2009 – 8 out of 10(Dir-Mrinal Sen) Fascinating portrayal of a film crew coming into an area to film a movie about a famine 40 years earlier in the same area and disrupting the villages around them. This movie is an obvious documentary but there is so much drama behind the scenes that this becomes a story all to it's own. The crew enters the area with good intentions of portraying the suffering that occurred as a reminder and a historical recreation of the time. At first the villagers welcome this mostly, but they obviously expect more from these new folk around them as they become a separate community in the area with big city needs. They hire locals to work with them to hopefully make up for their disruptions but this eventually backfires. The movie being made loses a main star in the production and they start trying to get local talent to play the part of a prostitute but this creates a lot of controversy in the villages and they start turning against them. This is a one of a kind movie that makes you think about our insistence on being entertained despite the circumstances. The movie community actually starts creating it's own famine in the surrounding areas by absorbing their goods – which is exactly opposite of their intention. The movie portrays the film crew as understanding and willing to make changes based on the locals reactions(unlike what American filmmakers might be like), so they definitely are not the enemy just absorbed in the situation. The movie should be a requirement for film schools but because it's made in a third world country and mostly unknown it probably wont. Watch it, you'll see what I mean!!

I watched this film with a lot of expectations. Maybe that is why now i feel kind of dissapointed. Don't get me wrong. It is an excellent film by its own merit. There is no doubt about it. It has a a unique 'film within a film' premise. It tries to focus on one of the the darkest corners of bengal history. There is also a ' art vs reality' vibe undercurrent here. Moreover it has a political element. The director tried to shed light on the class struggle between the proletariats and the elite and how it may have a role in engendering famine. This film deals with so many serious issues that it cannot help but be preachy at times. Especially the local school headmaster character and his sermons feel kind of forced. Look, i get the points the director wanted to make but in doing so, he sacrificed a good deal of spontaneity.

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User reviews Akaler Sandhane Featured review 7 /10 Mrinal Sen's powerful commentary on the contrast between cinematic representation and harsh reality-set against the backdrop of the devastating Bengal Famine.

Akaler Shandhaney (1982): Brief Review -

Mrinal Sen's powerful commentary on the contrast between cinematic representation and harsh reality-set against the backdrop of the devastating Bengal Famine. While Satyajit Ray's Ashani Sanket brilliantly examined the consequences of World War II and the 1943 famine, Sen chooses to explore a different dimension of the same event. The result is both thought-provoking and unsettling. The film follows a movie crew arriving in a village to shoot a film about the famine. While the director is deeply committed to the subject, much of the crew remains disconnected from the gravity of the tragedy they're depicting. On.