It’s X number of actors with X number of directors at X number of festivals with “X”! Let us explain:
Over the years we have seen Indian cinema evolve like no other. And it’s all thanks to the great talent that keeps cropping in our industry. The film “X” starring renowned and critically acclaimed actors, Rajat Kapoor, Anshuman Jha, Huma Qureshi along with Swara Bhaskar, Radhika Apte, Neha Mahajan, Parno Mitra, Pia Bajpai, Pooja Ruparel, Richa Shukla, Rii Sen, Aditi Chengappa, Bidita Bag and Gabriella Schmidt.
The movie had its world premiere on November 16th at the South Asian International Film Festival and garnered great applause. This time it is being screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala where the film will be screened twice – on December 14th and 16th.
What makes this film so great is the very fact that it’s directed by a bunch of 11 directors. We all know that too many hands spoil the broth but this time it has worked in favour of it. The film is a product of 11 different people’s thoughts and mindsets that sets it apart from any other movie. And might we add that these directors have directed movies that greatly vary from each other. This avant garde includes Qaushiq Mukherjee also known as Q (Gandu and Tasher Desh), Suparn Verma (Ek Haseena Ek Khiladi, Acid Factor, Aatma), Sandeep Mohan (Love, Wrinkle Free, Hola Venky), Sudhish Kamath (Good Night Good Morning), Raja Sen (Film critic), Anu Menon (London, Paris, New York ), Abhinav Shiv Tiwari, Hemant Gaba, Nalan Kumarasamy, Pratim D Gupta and Rajshree Ojha (Aisha).
The story of X revolves around K (Rajat Kapoor/Anshuman Jha) who is filmmaker going through a midlife crisis. It’s when he runs into a young girl (Aditi Chengappa) that he’s reminded of his ex-girlfriend, and subsequently every other woman in his life. Jha plays the younger self of Kapoor.
Here are some of the rave reviews that X received by crtics –
Josh Hurtado (Twitch) – “X focuses on the elusive qualities of love and its effects on people as they grow up and grow old, seeing this change through eleven different pairs of eyes is startling, charming, shocking, and panic inducing, but overall the experience is mesmerizing and the kind of experiment I would love to see more of.”
Christopher Bourne (Meniscus) – “The most remarkable aspect of X is the fact that in spite of the quite disparate cinematic styles and narrative modes employed by these 11 directors, the film feels quite coherent and cohesive. If one didn’t know many directors were involved in this piece, he or she could easily conceive of a single filmmaker attempting different styles in order to tell the story.”
Steve Kopian (Unseen Films) – “How the hell did they pull this off? In theory this film shouldn’t work. 11 writers and directors all using their own vision to create one story? It really shouldn’t work…The portrait of K that we get is rich and complex, perhaps much more complex than if one director had done it all. Say what you will there is something about the various tones and styles that give color and shading to K and his struggles that wouldn’t be there had just one person directed this film. I think a single director would have been too worried about making a seamless whole so the unevenness of life would have been lost. Wow.”
The X team is obviously thrilled with the response it has been getting but as producer Manish Mundra said, and we all know, it’s a “different ball game” in India. Executive producers Shiladitya Bora and Sudhish Kamath will soon be announcing the movie’s release in India in 2015.
Also we give special wishes to Anshuman Jha who is riding high with another film of his titled “Chauranga” which is the official selection in the World Cinema Section at the Dubai International Film Festival.
We hope the movie wows the Indian audiences too. Good luck!