GANTUMOOTE

Nel cinema indiano le storie d'amore adolescenziale non si contano. La qualità oscilla: di solito sono pellicole piuttosto banali, quando non proprio stupide, e solo alcune rare commedie riescono ad emergere. Il sentimento descritto è stereotipato, asessuale. Poi ecco piovere dal cielo un gioiellino come Gantumoote.

Gantumoote è incantevole, innovativo. Scritto e diretto con partecipazione emotiva, delicatezza, acume, nostalgia. Una narrazione naturale e fluida, riflessiva. I dialoghi sono a tratti notevoli. I personaggi realistici. 

Il punto di vista è quello femminile. Meera, la protagonista, è la bimba solitaria che non si lascia intimorire dal tentativo di molestie; la studentessa con ottimi voti; l'adolescente che rifiuta il dogma secondo cui l'uomo può scegliere (e imporsi a) la donna che desidera, ma la donna no, e ne sopporta le conseguenze; l'adulta il cui dolore è composto, interiorizzato, in linea con la propria natura. Meera sente fisicamente l'impatto di Madhu, il ragazzo che ama, e lo registra: mal di stomaco, ascelle sudate, gambe molli. Meera osserva rapita la nuca, la gola di Madhu. E' conquistata dal suo odore. Gantumoote rappresenta sul nascere le confuse pulsioni sessuali adolescenziali. 

Da sottolineare il legame fra Meera e il cinema, unico amico e maestro di vita. I film scandiscono tappe fondamentali. Apre le danze Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, con un giovane Salman Khan che ipnotizza Meera influenzandone le scelte future. Gantumoote è anche un inaspettato, sincero tributo alla superstar. Si prosegue con Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, che segna la fase delle effusioni più esplicite. Si conclude con il tragico The Legend of Bhagat Singh.

Difficile dimenticare Meera e Madhu, una delle coppie meglio riuscite nella storia del cinema indiano. Madhu è gioioso, freschissimo, perennemente in castigo ma sempre col sorriso sulle labbra. I due attori, Teju Belawadi e Nischith Korodi, sono deliziosi. Come si fa a non innamorarsi di questa pellicola? Gantumoote va assaporato in rispettoso silenzio. 

TRAMA

Primi anni novanta. Una bimba scopre il cinema, i pericoli vaghi nascosti in una sala buia, e il suo diritto di non privarsi - se possibile - di ciò che ama.

RECENSIONI

Deccan Herald:

'Director Roopa Rao’s treatment is simple and sensitive and often humorous. Gantumoote moves at the leisurely pace of nostalgia. (...) Even within the love story, it is Meera’s journey that the camera follows. An incident the movie handles expertly is Meera getting bullied. (...) In a subtle way, the film shows her realising she is the hero. (...) The film embraces its silences, many times cutting out the background score for ambient sound. This gives an immersive effect, and we are able to feel what Meera is feeling because we hear what she is hearing. The screenplay is carefully crafted, with enough time devoted for Meera to make sense of everything happening around her. It never gets too heavy, with jokes flowing through the script seamlessly, and getting laughs that don’t feel forced. Teju steals the spotlight and rightly so. If you are unfamiliar with her, it is hard to believe she isn’t a teenager. Even with a simple glance, she manages to convey complex emotions. Nishchith also does justice as a slightly adrift, charming love interest. His character never upstages Meera, but commands attention on his own'.

Theres Sudeep, 22.10.19

Recensione integrale

Film Companion:

'Every step of the way, the director cues us in to the very intense way Meera thinks and feels about things. (...) Soon, we sense a strong female gaze. (...) I can’t recall another film describe how love can manifest itself physically in a girl. We’ve always heard of the heart beating faster, but here, Meera talks of sweaty armpits and vomiting and loose motions - all the churn that hormones bring about. And yet, despite this amazingly female gaze, this isn’t a feminist film. It’s just a film about a girl, made by a woman who has probably been that girl. Roopa’s only “cause” is Meera. (...) Meera just wants to be herself. (...) The lines move easily between Kannada and English - the urbanness is unforced. Nothing, in fact, is forced. (...) Roopa Rao manages something very difficult. She holds a series of moods throughout, and the places she chooses to linger on are unusual. She is more interested in character than event, and she practically holds up an X-ray of Meera’s soul. Her framing is unfussy, and yet, there’s quiet beauty in the images. (...) The entire cast is superb, but Teju holds it all together. She doesn’t overdo the sensitivity. Her insides are always flickering with feelings, and her face says a lot despite showing very little. In a way, this beautiful film feels almost like a betrayal of Meera, who wants to keep everything inside her'. 

Baradwaj Rangan, 25.10.19

Recensione integrale

Cinema Hindi: ****

Punto di forza: la rappresentazione, onesta e delicata, di un'età imperscrutabile.

Punto debole: una certa cupezza nel tono, il finale un po' moralistico.

SCHEDA DEL FILM

Cast:

* Teju Belawadi - Meera

* Nischith Korodi - Madhu

Regia e sceneggiatura: Roopa Rao

Colonna sonora: Aparajith Sris

Lingua: kannada

Traduzione del titolo: Roopa Rao lo spiega qui: '‘Gantumoote’ means ‘baggage’. The tagline of the film, the hyphenated ‘bag-age’ is a pun on this. The formative years of high school play a very significant role in shaping an individual’s personality. It sets the tone for the rest of one’s life. This film portrays that phase of one’s life when one carries all the baggage along. We don’t realise that we have accumulated so much baggage till it becomes too much to bear. These emotions, accumulated over the years, is figuratively called ‘Gantumoote’'. 

Anno: 2019

Trailer

RASSEGNA STAMPA (aggiornata al 22 aprile 2020)

* Roopa Rao's Gantumoote: Is this the dawn of a new era in Kannada cinema?, Basav Biradar, Film Companion, 22 aprile 2020: '[Roopa] Rao unabashedly turns on the female gaze in this coming-of-age drama and delivers a memorable film. (...) Rao's treatment does not resort to titillating song sequences and sexual innuendos and, instead, lends sensuality and poetry to a sensitive love story. (...) Rao's sensitive and, at times, poetic screenplay takes us into the mind of a 16-year-old middle-class girl like never before and lets us experience her world. (...) With Gantumoote, Roopa Rao has also joined the group of independent filmmakers. But, hers is probably the most authentic, rooted voice. She does not allow herself any easy choices. There are no overly dramatic and strict parents or any needless demonising of teachers. (...) Gantumoote should be seen as a milestone in Kannada cinema, a film that will hopefully change the way stories of young women will be told. Also, Rao is the latest and an important addition to the very short list of women filmmakers in the history of Kannada cinema; this should inspire more women filmmakers and more women-driven narratives'.

CURIOSITA'

* Riferimenti a Bollywood: Salman Khan, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Shah Rukh Khan, Darr, Kajol.

GOSSIP & VELENI

* [Spoiler] Il finale tragico mi piace poco perchè sa di moralismo, anche se inconsapevole.