Film Review - Baga Beach

A Paradise Lost

 

Film: Baga Beach (Konkani with English subtitles)

Cast:Paoli Dam, Jean Denis Romer, Akash Sinha

Directed by: Laxmikant Shetgaonkar

Duration: 103 mins

Rating: *  *  *

After the success of the acclaimed The Man Across The Bridge, the expectations from director Laxmikant Shetgaonkar were sky high. To be fair, he has attempted to make a film which is in complete contrast to his previous venture, if that one had a steady rising graph like a straight line, Baga Beach, this years National Award winner for the Best Konkani film, follows the zig-zag pattern while rising upwards.

The theme that the director focuses on is something we can empathize with – migration, loneliness, the search for greener pastures, social ills including pedophilia and the is something we encounter in daily life. Fortunately, the screenplay doesn’t preach about these issues and prefers to skim the surface, after all, cinema cannot change situations but can certainly highlight them.

And now coming to, what will be the most talked about point for everyone after watching the film, the handheld or the shaky cam. The whole film is shot in that way which can be disconcerting for the audience. Traditionally, many directors have resorted to using the shaky cam, Paul Greengrass (Bourne 2 and 3, United 93) uses it a lot (he almost abandoned it in Captain Phillips though) and right from Godard, Kubrick to Cuaron and Lars Von Trier have used hand held cameras. But none of them made a whole film using that technique. 

Handheld shots are generally used to give the sense to the audience of ‘being there’ and watching it as it is happening giving it a touch of reality. When it is slightly over done, it gives a sense of discomfort to the viewer, and many times, that is precisely what the director wants to do, make the audience feel a bit uneasy. When it is completely overdone, it can even cause motion sickness, more so if you are sitting the lower half of the theatre. In fact the Hollywood film Cloverfield (2008) had many people leaving the theatre during the course of the film because of motion sickness. 

I must confess to having felt some uneasiness while watching Baga Beach. The technique was effective when the film started off, there are a bunch of characters we are introduced to. An impressive Paoli Dam plays Shobha a migrant (or lamanis as they are called in Goa) who makes a living by selling clothes on the beach, she is friendly with Devappa (Akash Sinha) a young man from Karnataka who is looking for a job, as a lifeguard. Jerry (Rajesh Karekar) already has that job but like the typical Goan fad, he also wants to go abroad.  

He is a part of the D’Costa family (Prashanti Talpankar and Pradeep Naik) who have rented part of their house to an elderly German (Jean Denis Romer), a pedophile who is eyeing a little boy in the family. As it happened in real life to many  the families, they are oblivious to the fact that anything untoward can happen to their son.  

The film centers along these characters and their tribulations. A social worker (Sadiya Siddique) tries to improve the lives of these street children who fall prey not only to strangers but many a times, the offenders are much closer home. 

The disadvantage of shooting a whole film on handheld, with close ups, zoom in and zoom out happening all the time is that even when a poignant or thoughtful point is made, the audience can barely soak it in as, when it cuts to the next scene, there is that disorientation again. The motive is clear and understandable - to unsettle to the viewer, but the question is, how much shakiness can the human eye and brain process?

Given that he is not a full time background music composer for films, the veteran musician Emiliano D’Cruz’ score is impressive and overall, the acting is also at par. In a de-glamoured role Paoli Dam puts up an impressive show along with Akash Sinha.

As a film that tries to tell a story differently, Baga Beach is a worth a watch and more over, being a regional film, it is certainly worth promoting. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 1st June 2014
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