Romance with a Twist

By Shahana Dattagupta

Day 3 of ISAFF had many themes running through it, but this one seemed to jump out at me: Romance with a Twist.

The evening started out with a lower turnout than one might expect on a Friday night, but filled in pretty quickly, as two full-length features (along with two shorts) were screened - Santosh Sivan’s Before the Rains, and Amyn Kaderali’s Kissing Cousins. Amyn flew up and introduced the evening, saying to the audience with his characteristic irreverent humor, “Before the Rains is a beautiful film. But it is also a sad film … it’s a tragedy. So after this, you need … well, a comedy about incest! So hope you’ll stay around!”

Both feature films had love stories with a “twist”: one explored the extramarital affair between an Indian local beauty and a British tea exporter in the pre-independence, highly political context of Kerala, while the other explored the odd coming-of-age of a cynical Indian American bachelor in contemporary times, who suddenly becomes capable of feeling love again after his cousin walks into his life and right into his heart. Two totally different contexts – historic, cultural, political – but equally impossible loves to sustain.

In Before the Rains love was bound to be extinguished not just by the boundaries of marriage, but the large gap that separated the British colonials and the Indian locals fighting for independence. In Kissing Cousins, when Zara burst out laughing at Amir’s declaration of love, one felt the ultimate finality of familial boundaries in matters of sexuality, even though falling in love, in itself, is plausible in any circumstances. Before the Rains was told in a narrative of intrigue, while Kissing Cousins had Amyn’s signature of irreverence and humor, and both explored in unexpected ways what happens when love crosses the boundaries firmly established by society.

Although the political theme didn’t jump out obviously in Friday’s films, there was still a strong undercurrent. I was especially delighted to note that the rarely discussed politics of normative “couplehood” – something mainstream society is designed to fit all of us neatly into – was critiqued with a ruthless eye in Kissing Cousins. And of course, the politics between ruler and the ruled, colonizer and colonized, became the ultimate cause for destruction in Before the Rains.

It occurs to me that in the significant backdrop of the Presidential debates – a very political climate in America – audiences are still interested in the political debates sparked by the ISAFF line-up of films and discussions. Remembering that personal is political, today’s line-up is excellent for exploring how gender and sexuality issues play into your personal lives and perspectives. Don’t miss the important panel discussion “Gender and Sexuality in Independent Films” at noon. The courageous documentary A Jihad for Love, whose filmmaker Parvez Sharma will be present for discussion, and the presentation Queering Bollywood: Alternative Sexualities in Popular Indian Cinema will offer great opportunities for debate and dialogue. A 7pm “gupshup” (chat) is also an excellent opportunity to be up-close and personal with all the filmmaker guests.

Hope to see you there!