A story set in Assam in the days of yore with four overlapping tales of women
By Roopa Barua
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| Kothanodi - The River of Fables - By Bhaskar Hazarika |
IMDb Ratings: N/A
Genre: Fantasy
Cast: Seema Biswas, Asha Bordoloi, Adil Hussain
Country: India
Language: Assamese
Runtime: 120 min
Color: Color
Mother-in-law: “Where is my son-in-law facing?
Wedding attendant: “I do not know which side he is facing.”
(Dialogue from Kothanodi: The River of Fables)
Women on the verge of a
nervous breakdown? Psychotic, bizarre women that defy stereotypes of sexuality
and gender in this gripping tale of magical realism woven together beautifully
by director Bhaskar Hazarika. Based loosely on Burhi Aair Sadhu (Tales by a Grandmother)
by noted Assamese writer Lakshminath Bezbarooah, this is a dark Assamese tale of
sordid lust and macabre desires, some of which are anthropomorphic in their
form and excess.
A story with four overlapping
tales of women – Tejimola, a young girl with a travelling father played by Adil
Hussain and a wicked stepmother played by Zerifa Wahed; Dhoneshwari (Seema
Biswas), who wants to marry her daughter off to a serpent for the riches she thinks
will come to her; Ketaki (Urmila Mahanta), a weaver who gives birth to an outenga (a sour Assamese fruit); and
Malati (Asha Bordoloi), who kills all her
newborns at the request of her superiors, and her husband Poonai (Jatin Bora). All of this is set in Assam in a
bygone era.
The lust and greed of
vermillion-smeared married women contrast with the frailty of a little girl
with one parent and one step parent; the issue of giving birth in the proper
context and to the right kind to inherit this world contrasts with lovers
caught in the lunacy of a moonlit night; all weave into the visuals to take us
through a sordid storyline where spiders, leeches and serpents share screen
time with the characters. If a serpent
that suppossedly brings riches is good enough to be married off to a daughter,
so too a blood-sucking leech is apt food for a hungry stepdaughter. All’s fair
in this game of love and lust that is being played onscreen!
Women in their various avatars – as a mother, stepmother, lover, daughter and stepdaughter – all come under the scanner in this blended concoction of witchy logic and dark magic. A mother who only greeds for her daughter and wealth, a stepmother who is busily trying to unshackle herself from the chains of a stepdaughter, a daughter who pines for her travelling dad and mothers who are giving birth to all life that does not seem right. Women shown in all their images that are not the epitomes of the ideal. But this helps in the crafting of a story which has its roots in Assam where the worship of Shakti, aniministic forms of worship and black magic still reign supreme.
The sound of the traditional Assamese instruments bhor taal and taal reverberate through the film and bring in an eerie vibe to the sound. The surrealism of the plot heightened by this instrument adds multiple nuanced layers to a story where the women are already in a disturbed world.
 |
| A Still from Bhaskar Hazarika's Kothanodi - The River of Fables |
Women in their various avatars – as a mother, stepmother, lover, daughter and stepdaughter – all come under the scanner in this blended concoction of witchy logic and dark magic. A mother who only greeds for her daughter and wealth, a stepmother who is busily trying to unshackle herself from the chains of a stepdaughter, a daughter who pines for her travelling dad and mothers who are giving birth to all life that does not seem right. Women shown in all their images that are not the epitomes of the ideal. But this helps in the crafting of a story which has its roots in Assam where the worship of Shakti, aniministic forms of worship and black magic still reign supreme.
The sound of the traditional Assamese instruments bhor taal and taal reverberate through the film and bring in an eerie vibe to the sound. The surrealism of the plot heightened by this instrument adds multiple nuanced layers to a story where the women are already in a disturbed world.
 |
| A Still from Bhaskar Hazarika's Kothanodi - The River of Fables |
As Spanish director Pedro Almodovar once said: “When I was very young, I was already a fabulador. I loved to give my own version of stories that everybody already knew. When I got out of a movie with my sisters, I retold them the whole story. In general they liked my version better than the one they had seen.”
This is essentially what Bhaskar Hazarika has done. He has retold a few stories about Assam in his own unique way. Kothanodi – The River of Fables is a minimalist gripping work by him that will set the benchmark for good storytelling in film and would be an inspiration to the budding talent in India.
- Premiering at Busan Film Festival on 3rd October 2015
- Also showing at London Film Festival, October 2015
About Author -
Roopa Barua is a fan of the cinematic medium. She seeks to discover and experience nuanced cinema that goes beyond geography and human boundaries. Roopa is also an award winning documentary filmmaker. She can be reached at roopa.kahini@gmail.com.
Readers, please feel free to share your views/opinions in the comment box below. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!
Kothanadai - The River of Fables (2015) Trailer
Readers, please feel free to share your views/opinions in the comment box below. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!
References:
Kothanadai - The River of Fables (2015) Trailer
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Interesting. A film better than those of Jahnu Barua? I loved Barua's "Papori", the best Assamese film for me.
ReplyDeleteTrust me. This film is unlike any that has come out of Assam. Amazing film.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it is... thanks for sharing your views! :-)
ReplyDelete