MANE - (The Dwelling) or EK GHAR {1991}

Cast :Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Rohini Hattangady, Mico Chandru
Direction & Screenplay : Girish Kasaravalli
Based on the novel by : T. G. Raghava
Cinematography : S Ramachandra
Original Music : L. Vaidyanathan

Accolades:
National Awards - Winner, Silver Lotus - Best Kannada Film

Selected and screened at - International Film Festival Rotterdam , Sydney International Film Festival, London Film Festival, Fukouka International Film Festival

Memory of the film: I had seen a film on Doordarshan which starred Naseerudin Shah and in that movie he was terrorized by the noise in his neighborhood. Besides this I dint have any idea about this film, No Name, No Director nor Heroine. I had started to enjoy the mood of this film and suddenly there was a blackout, the electricity went off. Thus resulting in not watching the film or knowing anything about this film.

Hunt for the film: I had asked plenty of my filmy friends but all of them knew the same as Actor-Producer-Director Joginder knew about acting, which was nothing. Then one day I had been to office of a yesteryear film photographer to view his collection {Consisting of All Film Fare Magazines, Stardust, G and many more filmi mags}. He had few rare offbeat films which he requested be to buy them as he knew my taste. I bought them, out of which most of them were Marathi and documentary along with this film where the poster had Naseer and Dipti, which I misunderstood for “Apna Jahan”. After almost a year i came to know that this was the original version of the same film{Ek Ghar} which I had seen years back and that too just a scene.

Impact in today's time: Well when you have Naseerudin Shah and Deepti Naval, the impact in today’s time will still be strong as it was that time. The movie dealt with a newly wedded couple coming from a small village to a big town as the husband got a decent job in MNC. They stay in a rented house and expect the same type of environment as it was in village, only to find out that they had some noisy neighbors who use to work in night making loads of noise. Thus Naseer gets irritated with it and ends up going from one trouble to another.

The theme was great and over that the performance of the lead actors, which was well supported by Rohini Hattangady. The director deserves full marks for creating the tension in the film by the way he has shot it and by using of Jarring sounds. You can feel and understand the trauma the couples are going through, which is caused by loud noise. The subject can be a perfect material for Sound environmentalist. The ending was bit depressing as all such off beat films have.

My Verdict – Pls do watch it for the unusual theme {despite being a regional film} and performances of the lead actors, especially Naseerudin Shah whose frustration, depression, desperation shows on screen which can be also called as Acting.

P.S - The director felt that he could have cast Kannada actors instead of Naseer and Deepti. But the inherent strength of these performers surpasses the minor language hurdle making the film a modern classic.