There are no rules in experimental cinema other than that the existent ones must be broken or
ignored. Abstraction is hard precisely because there are no guidelines to help one out, and
often abstract films are like a drowning man clutching at straws. 

<h2>That Cloud Never Left, however, is abstract filmmaking done right. It is subjective enough to
allow many interpretations, eerily beautiful enough to catch your eye and
structured enough to never wander away from the things it wants to talk about. </h2>

Set in the village of Daspara (200 kms from Kolkata) where people make toys to sell in
bigger cities for a living, the film follows the day-to-day lives of the people and their innovative
toys. They diligently make merry-go-rounds, rattles and flutes with their hands. The toys are cut out of bamboo, straw and old 35mm film reels, after which they are hand-painted. The old reels of
Bollywood films are the soul of this surreal film. 

The film is happy to give what little story it has through title cards, reminiscent of the silent era.
The rest, emotions, pathos and relevant themes, are conveyed through images, an innovatively
crafted background score and cryptic dialogue sprinkled with control for garnish in this
masterful recipe. 

It starts with a heap of toys being sold on city streets. Cut to a floating
shot from a clear sky above a boat, facing the sun directly, coloured blood red. Slowly, the
camera pans away from the surreality, and the scene slowly shifts to reveal
Daspara. From then on, visuals gaze into the elements that make these toys - bamboo
reeds, straws, ropes and, of course, film reels. 

<h2>The hypnotising monotony of the work is the norm. This
monotonous work makes steady tunes that the sound designer Bigyna Dahal has turned into a
brilliant score that works just as well in the film as it does as a standalone piece. It is soothing,
euphoric and has a sensibility that ornaments the film. </h2>

Film reel dominates the motifs of the film, and also the life in the village. Often dreamlike images that are full of neon colours fill the screen, as if from the chemicals reacting within the reel itself. The existing frames captured in them mingle with the jumble of colours. Like a radio
finding frequencies, the reels go back to the station too. Images are projected on
closed shop doors. People often watch these films on TV after cutting reels all day, as they
listen to old songs. It is as if the films remain as happily effervescent ghosts in the village, their
stories mixed in the soil, their soul found in the water of the place. 

One character enigmatically says ‘our stories are forever. We will never run out of stories’.
Perhaps it is an artist’s testament to art’s invincibility. It might also be about art breeding art, a
cycle as potent as the cycle of life itself. 

The film is set against the backdrop of an imminent lunar eclipse. The children in the village look for
rubies. Two men ambitiously build a skyscraper like a toy out of their traditional elements in the pursuit of things like a mobile network and a better view of the eclipse. All of them look for purpose, while never
quite being able to distance themselves from what they do. 

The day of the eclipse arrives, clouds appear. The children search for rubies, the men sit
atop their ambitious toy. The film crew religiously shoots. Amidst all of this, art, the omnipresent entity, continues its silent, most natural existence.

 
Written by Nimish K Sharma

That Cloud Never Left | Review

Anukul is a story by Satyajit Ray that is enhanced in the most elegant way by Sujoy Ghosh's filmmaking. The narrative is about a school teacher who decides to get a robot one day to take care of his domestic chores. Set in West Bengal, the plot touches upon a concern which is also relevant in contemporary times, one of artificial intelligence making humans redundant. The dim-lighting of the film further helps to invoke a sense of tension and uncertainty about the human fate as well as their conflicted equation with machines. The film is subtle, powerful and, irrespective of the side you find yourself on when it comes to apprehensions about AI, sure to move you.

Anukul | Short Film of the Day

This is West Bengal through the eyes of a tourist, as she embarks upon her journey. The short film encapsulates the essence of Bengal in about three minutes - from Kolkata streets to Sunderbans, from Bengali cuisine to Durga Puja. It is a series of beautifully shot visuals put together to take the viewer along with the tourist as she moves from one experience to the other. Add a little bit of Shah Rukh Khan towards the end, and the romanticising of the state, replete with its natural and cultural glory, is complete.

West Bengal Tourism | Short Film of the Day

If a horror story is executed expertly, it can lead you to instinctively look around for company, to ensure you are not alone and vulnerable for whatever fictional monster or demon you have just encountered on screen. However, the flip side to it is the high possibility of it all going wrong and leaving you with cringe-inducing humour. Fortunately, Mukho-Churi falls in the first category and catches the viewer by terrifying shock at what unfolds before them. The film deserves a especial mention for its visual effects and the usage of sound, two elements which make it succeed. It is late at night as two professionals light a cigarette, share a horror story and get back to work. However, because of a mistake, a simple act of forgetfulness, a very dark twist awaits the characters. In a world that is plagued by witch-hunts and cruelty, what would be their fate?

Mukho-Churi|Short Film of the Day

Marked by a frugality of dialogue and words, often allowing a strong background score to fill any consequent lacunas, the film does a notable job of drawing parallels between the fate of a woman and a water body. It is in this manner that Jahnabi becomes a bridge, an unbreakable link, between nature and the humans who engage and interact with it on a regular basis. What the narrative achieves seamlessly is to draw a jarring comparison between the wrongs done to both of these, the woman and the river, and yet, their course continues, unceasing, unrelenting. As they meander through the several curves and highs and lows, an existence of betrayals, cruelties, and sometimes plane indifference, is realised. Shot in nineteen locations across India, the film employs skilled camerawork, matched by equally complementary music to bring to life a remarkable story of love, loss and longing. In this world of heartache and sadness, dreams often bleed into reality and vice-versa, blurring the boundaries of what is real and what isn't. However, the overarching reminder about the fateful existence of women as well as the water bodies, specifically in contemporary India, remains a lucid, unequivocal message of the film for the viewer.

Jahnabi | Shorted Screening

In a room where galaxies appear in the cracks of the ceiling, and a clock shows no time, a man spends his existence robbed of memory and the coherency of what one may call ‘real life’. As the story marches forth, it presents a full circle from one ceiling to another - but does it always necessarily suggest movement or progress? 

The answer remains nestled within the narrative which engages with dark thematic concerns of the limits of domesticity, severe mental disorders, and old age. Metaphors and symbolism are replete in this realm - from images on the walls to those that visit a young man in his own reflection in the darkness of the night. By introducing us to three of its characters, a woman, her son, and her father-in-law, the film conjures its world for you with ease, presenting a powerful story that is executed with skill and seamlessness.

Chimera | Short Film Nominee

‘Arko’ is the exploration of primarily a father-son equation. The territory extends to include dynamics of the entire familial space, that of a mother and her child, and the husband-wife themselves, but its predominant preoccupation remains a conversation between Asit and his son, Arko. 

The eventual outcome of this exchange presents a story the viewer did not expect at first glance. The film does a notable job of deliberately keeping them away from it. The consequent world-building comes to be defined by loss, heartache, regret, and the overarching notion of what could have been. 

The end result is further marked by a song that sings of the human condition, expressed in poetic metaphors about words, and their might and influence on emotional states. When tragedy tears life asunder, the only thing left in its wake is a wishful indulgence in a world that will never be, asserts the film in its quiet melancholy.

Arko | Short Film Nominee

‘Afterbirth’ offers a narrative that ties history and politics with poetry and domesticity. The path to realize these thematic concerns is weaved with care as the film captures a tumultuous moment of public strife, one that also reflects the emotional and mental strife of two people unable to find fulfilment in this world, and yet seeking it relentlessly. 

Through Tani and Nator, the film not only presents its philosophical preoccupations, but further questions the traditional nature of marriage and the restrictive norms it often entails. In Tani, we see an intelligent woman who is unhesitant in asserting her views and desires, even if it sometimes means calling out the escapism and denial of a man she is deeply in love with despite, and perhaps, even because of it. 

The film deftly employs soft, diffused visuals, invoking an otherworldliness, even if showing a want of slightly more control, to bring its reality to life. The portrayal of its characters and the storytelling remain noteworthy elements, along with writing being a standout characteristic, ensuring that you stay with the plot and its many layers right till the very end.

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