previously published on Asian Movie Pulse
For
the most of the people, the first that comes to mind when the cinema
of India is mentioned is Bollywood. Those with a broader cinematic
knowledge will think of the Indian New Wave. But "Lorni - The
Flaneur", a feature debut by Wanphrang K. Diengdoh is
something that defies all the expectations: a micro-budgeted,
guerilla-filmed noir set in a peculiar surroundings of the city of
Shillong and its diverse cultural milieu. The film avant-premiered at
home, at the 14th edition of Habitat Film Festival in New Delhi in
May, before its official World Premiere in the First Features
Competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
Shem,
played by Adil Hussain of "Life of Pi" and "Hotel
Salvation" fame, is an unlicensed private investigator (the
first term in the title is a Khasi-language word for an inquisitive
person who knows what is going on in community) who spends his days
idling (hence the second part of the title) at a local joint in the
town of Shillong in the hilly state of Meghalaya in the North-Eastern
part of India. His "half-breed" origins make him both a
perfect insider and outsider in the Khasi-dominated local culture and
the perfect man for the job of investigation of the disappearance of
the missing cultural and mythical artefacts stolen from a local
well-to-do household. Soon enough, the investigation takes the turn
from reality towards the surreal realm of dreams, alcohol-infused
hallucinations and the folklore myths...
The
film's basis consisting of integral noir genre elements like the
jaded, lonely detective who explains his moves and thought process in
the voice-over narration, a strange mission, a proper femme fatale,
some local informants and unlikely suspects is immersed into an
out-of-ordinary setting of a culturally specific Indian city that is
big enough to support a detective-type of story, but small enough to
maintain the authenticity and the culture of gossiping. Apart from
shooting the whole film in the guerilla fashion in just 24 days on a
shoestring budget, Diengdoh's heroic work reflects in the fact that
the elements of the local culture are masterfully interwoven, so the
film cannot be written off as a piece of pastoral exoticism: the
treatment of languages (a mix of Khasi, English and Hindi) heard in
conversations, the culture, the philosophy and the visual identity of
the place, captured through the lens of the cinematographer Paramesh
Deka, feels organic in "Lorni - The Flaneur".
Diengdoh
is a multi-disciplinary artist with the background in short and
documentary filmmaking, music and performance arts, as well as a
cultural activist in the #khasinewwave movement, do it does not come
as a huge surprise that he did most of the technical and creative
work on the film himself. "Lorni - The Flaneur" was his
brainchild from the start and he developed it for ten years as a film
and as a graphic novel. Apart from writing and directing it, he also
served as his own editor and composed the original score and the
songs seen and heard in the film himself, while also performing them
with one of his bands, Nion.
Diengdoh's
cast of local non-actors blends perfectly with the surroundings,
adding another layer of authenticity to the story, while the only
real star, Adil Hussain, serves perfectly as their leader and anchor,
drawing the viewer's attention to himself. In the end, "Lorni -
The Flaneur" is a completely original piece of filmmaking that
innovates the noir genre and a pleasant, smooth and fun watch, which
makes it compulsory for anyone who calls himself a cinephile.
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