Atul Kulkarni and the Savage God
iView Author: RAGHU (Huntsville,Alabama, U.S.A)
Email: r.s.godavarthi@gmail.com
Atul Kulkarni and the Savage God
1:1.6 – An Ode to Lost Love (2005)
In my earlier review of Milk, I had remarked on the singular experience of movie watching at a theatre. Curiously, the DVD renting phenomenon is also equally singular, especially when it comes to renting DVDs of Indian movies – in any language. A couple of years ago, my usual source for DVDs being slightly out of date, I decided to check the other “Indian” store (YES! This little town of Huntsville, AL has 3 “Indian” stores!!!) I look through the collection, and among “NEW RELEASES” I find Nayakan (I know), Swades… and Atul Kulkarni on a DVD titled 1:1.6 An Ode to Lost Love. Hey, there’s also Sonali Kulkarni, Rati Agnihotri and Gulshan Grover!!! Why haven’t I heard of this movie before? It’s an Indian film, in English, directed by Madhu Ambat, the back cover informs me. I am hooked, lined and sunk. I’ve never heard of Madhu Ambat, but, for Atul Kulkarni alone, I will watch this movie, I decided. I later find out that Madhu Ambat is an ace cinematographer from the land of Adoor, making his foray into direction with this mysteriously titled movie. The film also debuts Masumi Makhija, whom we later saw in Maqbool.
Atul Kulkarni, in the first shot of the movie tells us that 1:1.6 is the ratio of the film frame. And what a movie follows!!! The subject alone floored me – it is a movie about suicide! Atul Kulkarni plays a wannabe director, mysteriously preferring to be called M. The movie traces his past, and his present and how his experience with one woman fails to help him save another, who has decided that he will be her elder brother. The movie is woven with the skill of a mystery writer, with crucial character sketches firmly in place. Every actor has done commendable justice to their characters, and while sections of the film seem random, in the overall context they are well placed. The movie inspired me to read the book that, in the movie, almost becomes an inspiration for Atul Kulkarni – Al Alvarez’ “A Savage God”, which in turn led me to the poetry of Slyvia Plath….
Dalip Tahil’s “What is wrong with Happy Endings?” (from Bombay Dreams) might be a suitable soundtrack for this movie, which definitely does not end happily, but then the end is not always of consequence. This film walks us through some of the more painful lanes of life, but tells us of the power of creativity, and of the traps that an emotional mind will often fall into. I did not at any point feel that this was one sad movie, because the onus is always on creativity, and this I find great empathy in, since at the craziest nadir of my own life, I chose to vent my anger and frustration into poetry and have ever since believed in finding creative outlets for the dark side of emotion. I have seen Atul Kulkarni in other roles since – the cynically optimistic reporter in Page 3; the impassioned patriot in Rang De Basanti; and have always been awestruck by how deep his portrayal seems. I think, it was in 1:1.6 that I first saw a glimpse of that depth, and for that reason alone this movie is memorable. I also remember spending about 2 hours googling to find out if he was a native Malayalam speaker, for he does have a few lines which sounded very authentic! Yet, strangely, you will not find 1:1.6 in his filmography either on IMDB or Wikipedia!!!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
It is great to see that you have unearthed a Gem.
Madhu Ambat is one of the greatest DOPs that India have produced. The first to work in foreign movies, including M Night Shymalam’s early work ‘Wide Awake’a report
Another point to be taken note of in this movie is the Art Director (’Soorya’ Krishnamoorthy)is perhaps the one of the most talent production designers and event manager in the nation. It is sad that these people go unnoticed, in the bollywood blizzard
wow i’m pretty sure i can’t find this movie in the bigger indian stores of washington d.c.
i’m moving to huntsville now!!! it sometimes makes me sad that i won’t watch so many good movies just because they were never available to me.
I’ll try to watch this movie if I get it in an Indian store. But if you are an Atul Kulkarni fan then watch ‘Mansarovar’ I watched this film at the MAMI festival in Mumbai. It won the Best Picture award at the Festival. It’s in English and truly an amazing film. Great performances by Atul Kulkarni and Neha Dubey. Watch it and let me know your feedback on the same.
@ Ram V: you are right.. it is sad that such brilliant movies r not noticed… thanks for the info… there’s so much more to a movie than u ever realize!!! I’m keeping an eye open for other such hidden diamonds..
@ papaji: you are most welcome! it’ll be gud to have company for some gud movies!
@ Ashwin: WIll definitely check out Mansarovar! thanks for the tip!
hey nice article …..and lucky u r to get a movie like that in rent house near u…..however sir, if you could upload this movie on the sites like youtube and gvideo, i wud be very grateful …..i really want to see this movie……i m a big fan of Atul….but this movie is nowhere to be found….the story of the movie seems interesting…[:)]
http://www.atulkulkarni.com/biography.html
I think this film is produced by National Film Development Corporation of India.NFDC treats their films like National Secrets. NFDC just produces films (of limited film makers) and screens in their preview theater and throws them to film archives.
What happened to films like Main Zinda Hoon, Dharavi and so many of them. We can’t even get to see a DVD of it in the market.
I have nothing against NFDC but they have to rethink about their marketing strategy.Because we want to see these cinemas.
Thankyou so much for that, Raghu!
I am in awe of Atul Kulkarni.
He excels in everything!
I’d never heard of this up until now.
And have NO IDEA where i’m gonna find it, but i’m very interested in watching it.
Masumi’s debut?
So this came even before ‘Chup Ke Se’?
How old is this?
2005!
Just saw it, soz!
@ shitiz.. i am sorry to disappoint you.. but I guess you might find it on a film forum…
@ Ashutosh thanks for the link! I wish he’d blog abt his movies too
@ valay.. you’re right.. it is an NFDC production and yes, it’d nice if NFDC cud have a online video sharing system like Rajshri…
@ Steve.. I hope you find the movie and enjoy it!
Thanks for this, will try to procure the film. I am very fond of Atul Kulkarni, one of the ‘actors’ whose acting doesn’t annoy you, much like Deepak Dobriyal. Loved Kulkarni in Hey Ram, RDB, Maati Maay, Delhi 6.
Raghu!
I’ve managed to find it!
It’ll take 2-3weeks to get to me, but i’m really looking forward it.
Just watched it!
Atul Kulkarni was fabulous, AS USUAL!
Such a nice change to see Gulshan Grover play such a real character!
Masumi & Rati were really good too, but Sonali was a bit… how can I put it?
Considering she was such a huge influence in M’s life, I wish they had shown her flashbacks more interestingly because she came across as quite one dimensional.
Having said that, yes, I enjoyed it and i’m actually surprised that I managed to get hold of it!