Chauthi Koot
Festival films are often regarded to be of a certain type. A piece of art for art’s sake that most find inaccessible, if not unpalatable. But there have been Indian films in recent decades that have broken the mould to find universal audience acceptance and receive due recognition at once. Gurvinder Singh’s National Award-winner Chauthi Koot is one such film. The 2016 Punjabi thriller is set in the ’80s, in the events that followed the infamous Operation Blue Star -- to eliminate Sikh militants in Punjab.The film delves into how locals in rural areas in Punjab were targeted by both militants and the police who pulled them up for harbouring insurgents. Turning away from either wasn’t an option and becoming an ally or informer for either side could be just as disastrous. What sets Chauthi Koot apart from most, is its atmospheric cinematography by Satya Rai Nagpaul. To comprehensively furnish an ominous mood, we’re introduced to rolling fields, the sky takes on a gloomy hue, a group of Sikhs scurry by anxiously and an eerie background score only elevates the tension in every scene. In fact, even the silent scenes in this one can be just as unsettling. Chauthi Koot was nominated for the prestigious Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and won honours at the Mumbai Film Festival and the Singapore Film Festival. Alright, that's the lost and found film for today's podcast. I shall be back again with another film or show that turned out to be a hidden gem. Until next time, it's your host Nikhil outta here.
