Making empty choices

Anirban Datta’s film ‘Tetris’ is one of only two short films selected from India for the Cannes Film Festival this year.

The other is Gitanjali Rao’s exquisite animation short ‘Printed Rainbow’. ‘Tetris’ is Datta’s diploma film from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI).

“Tetris is a digital game, but my film is also about writing a film,” says Datta. It is a 30-minute, 35mm film in search of a story. The film certainly shows cinematic intelligence, and is self-reflexive, even if it overdoes the philosophical ‘dialogue baazi’.

The characters seem to be playing themselves as a young crew drives out to make a film, but the director stays back. One by one, each of the crew drop out of the film, till only the actress is left at the end.

Finally, the camera zooms out to reveal that the story is, in fact, a digital game being played on someone’s screen.

An attempt to make a film reveals that the film is somehow writing itself. This nihilistic film seems to suggest that people who think they are making choices are, in fact, being manipulated by larger forces, and that we are all dispensable-the story will inexorably carry on.

The script, as well as photography by Gnana Shekar VS, are very interesting, with some great music by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook.
m_shedde@dnaindia.net