By Murtaza Ali Khan
The
award-winning director of Chauranga,
Bikas Ranjan Mishra, who recently made his digital debut with Pagla
Ghoda, an adaptation of Badal Sarkar’s classic Bengali play of the same
name, for Star Network’s popular streaming platform HotStar, is coming out with
his second web film titled A Guy in the
Sky. And, like Pagla Ghoda, it is
produced by CinePlay—the brainchild of actors Nandita Das and Subodh Maskara
that endeavors to present timeless stories as a new, digitally-immersive avatar
of cinema. A tongue-in-cheek satire on the current political climate in India, Guy in the Sky will be streaming on
HotStar from 13 June onwards. It is inspired by Chandrashekhara Kambara's Kannada play titled Harakeya
Kuri.
Guy in the Sky revolves around three characters, viz. an urban
middle-class couple and an uninvited guest who rudely intrudes their house. It
opens with Jean Luc Godard’s famous saying: “All you need for a movie is a gun
and a girl.” Guy in the Sky stars Tannishtha
Chatterjee (Unindian, Angry Indian Goddesses, Parched), Maanvi Gagroo (TVF Pitchers/Tripling), and Sunny
Hinduja (Ballad of Rustom). We are introduced
to the couple at the beginning of the first act. At first everything looks
picture-perfect. We have a caring husband who’s preparing breakfast for her
wife. The wife, who is organizing a protest march against a popular political
leader, is waiting eagerly for the husband at the breakfast table to tell him about the brilliant idea she has for her profile picture. She wants all her friends
to use the same picture along with the hashtag 'NetajiShameShame'. She then asks her husband
to change it as well but he seems reluctant to do so. When she continues to
insist, he tells her that it might lead to him being trolled on the social
media. For, he was the one who had written Netaji’s campaign song. This results
in a heated argument after which the wife leaves for the protest march.
As the wife leaves, the husband gets back to his work. But, he is unable to concentrate because of the loud
noises coming from the outside. Apparently, they are coming from the programme
organized in the honor of the very politician (Netaji) against whom his wife was going
to organize the protest march. Along with the loud Bhajans we also get to hear
a voice on the loudspeaker that constantly hums jingles in Netaji’s honor such
as “ABCDEFG… NETAJI NETAJI… 2G 3G 4G... NETAJI NETAJI”. Soon enters the
uninvited guest, taking the couple’s life by storm. Certain uncanny
developments take place and the wife, to her great shock, ends up learning that
her husband is actually a great admirer of Netaji. Guy in the Sky is not just
a satire on India’s current political climate but it is also a careful examination
of the modern middle-class couples that highlights the superficial value system
they adhere to and materialistic pursuits they are after. It is also a reminder
of our alarming overdependence on social media.
Overall, Guy in the Sky makes for an effective satire that
entertains while simultaneously making us think. The pacing is brilliant and the
tension is unrelenting thanks to the director’s choice to include several long
continues takes. Of course, the credit also goes to the three actors (Hinduja, Chatterjee,
and Gagroo, in that very order) who make it possible. Dealing with a subject material
like this one is akin to walking on a landmine but Bikas Mishra packages it so
cleverly that the mockery feels most subtle. As a matter fact, it feels more
like a debate between two opposing ideologies. And that’s nothing short of a
triumph. However, for a more discernible viewer, Guy in the Sky can prove to
be much richer at the sub textual level. As we continue to the debate about the
notions of free speech, Guy in the Sky
shows us the way forward.
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