Gulaal

Gulaal, which screened at the Venice film festival, is a dark, compelling film on campus politics and how it feeds into the corridors of power. The film tackles several issues, including campus bullying, caste issues, violent politics, patriarchy and the quest for legitimacy. Soon after mild-mannered Dilip Kumar Singh (Raj Singh Chaudhary) gets admission to a college in the western state of Rajasthan, he is assaulted – stripped naked and shoved into a cell with a female professor Anuja (Jessie Randhawa), who is also stripped naked. After his roommate Ransa, the offspring of a respected Rajasthani family, is murdered, he is pressed into standing for college elections by Dukey Bana (the excellent Kay Kay Menon), a local leader who dreams of restoring the former royal state of Rajasthan to Rajput glory by having it secede from the Indian Union. When Dilip realizes he is just a pawn in a dirty game, he rebels. Shot by Rajeev Ravi, the film seethes with a restless energy. Kashyap offers cynical insight into contemporary India’s socio-political landscape and democracy in a film peppered with violence, wicked humour, songs and musical numbers. In the climax, Dilip’s face is smothered in gulaal, a symbolic red powder normally used in celebration during the Holi spring festival – but here also used to humiliate.