The late 19th century saw Fydor Dostoyesvsky write about the political and moral nihilism setting into the Russian society of the 1860s. Loosely inspired by his work Demons is a work by NYFA alumnus #RohitMittal released without much fanfare in 2019.
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #Megalopolis, a work of pure chaotic genius. Leveraging poetry, prose, visuals and perspectives, this 55 minute film takes a dystopian view of Mumbai and how people follow blind logic without questioning the rationale. In today's age of deep fakes, baseless forwards and the escalating debate about privacy, I found this film deal with a strangely relevant issue.
One caveat though; this is not your ordinary film. With a dismembered voiceover and some strikingly violent imagery, this film can put you off. It likens Mumbai city to a morgue, where the living are dead and the dead are rotting. There is also the concept of destruction of the self that can be an affront on your senses.
#Megalopolis tells the story of 18-year-old Maaran who comes from Satara to Mumbai to find and kill Kamal, the man who has killed his parents. He discovers that Kamal has a cult following of young people who believe that the city is hot and crowded and cleansing is the need of the hour. Some of them talk about killing themselves and narrate the grotesque methods. One young man believes that death by freezing will keep his honour intact. For fans of #MartinScorcese, these characters will remind you of Travis Bickles as they take their angst out on the camera.
With the poetry of #WilliamBlake and references to Dostoyevsky, the visuals take on a life of their own. There is one sequence based on the Book of Thel that deals with disillusionment of the way society is headed. There is another sequence that deals with the killing or maiming of animals that is hugely disturbing. #RohitMittal justifies these as they are meant to be about meat-eating habits of man and not about cruelty to animals.
The cast includes #ShwethaBasuPrasad, #ArjunRadhakrishnan and #SumeetThakur. #Megalopolis is available on #MUBI and on #Cinemapreneur on a pay per view basis.
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