Adieu Godard

In a small village in India, an elderly man becomes obsessed with the French-Swiss filmmaker Jean Luc-Godard and decides to organise a film festival in his honour.

Ananda (Bikash) is an old, married man and has a daughter named Shilpa (Madhusmita). Ananda constantly buys pornographic films and watches them at his home with his friends. One day, instead of a sex film, he accidentally ends up with a movie by Godard. His friends dislike it, however Ananda finds himself being mesmerised by what he sees and becomes a different person. He convinces his friends to help him bring together a festival that will be dedicated to Godard, in the hope that the experience will make the narrow-minded villagers more open-minded.

This dark comedy drama was filmed in Odisha, India and pays tribute to the acclaimed filmmaker. The movie has a narrative that keeps cutting between the past and the present. The past consists of Ananda's efforts to make the festival a reality. The present concentrates on Shilpa as she tells the story about her father to her filmmaker boyfriend Pablo (Giri). Shilpa is also the narrator. It is the preparation for the festival that is the highlight of the film, with Ananda and his friends enthusiastically working towards their goal.

The story is interesting to follow and Bikash is great in his portrayal of an awkward person who develops a new passion and wishes to share it with others. Madhusmita is convincing in her role as Ananda's intelligent daughter. It should be mentioned that the film includes profanity and sexual content and, therefore, is not for sensitive viewers.

The film utilises colour as well as black-and-white cinematography. The scenes that take place in the present are in colour and the ones that take place in the past are almost entirely in black-and-white. As director, Bhattacharyya creates wonderful establishing shots. There is effective use of slow motion
and Kisaloy Roy makes a good contribution with the music.

This feature is an intriguing achievement. It explores the joys of discovering something new and having a dream to pursue. It also suggests that sometimes not everyone has the same opinion.