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Nizhalkkuthu: a brilliant finale to MAMI
No Bollywood star, barring Aamir Khan, attended the week-long film fest
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Deepa Gumaste
The week-long International Film Festival of Mumbai drew to a close Thursday with an overbearingly official closing ceremony. While on the one hand, everybody thanked everybody and the secretary of MAMI (Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image), Shyam Benegal promised to improve upon their mistakes, on the other, there was a terribly sedate award function.
The international jury from FIPRESCI, the representative body of film critics, gave away the Best Indian Feature Film Award to Rituporno Ghosh's Titli. Veteran cinematographer V Babasaheb who was associated with films like Daag, Patita, Seema, Ganga Jumna and Aan Milo Sajna was given the Kodak Award for Technical Excellence.
This year, MAMI gave a special award to Om Puri for making a significant contribution to Indian Cinema over the last 25 years. Puri made a gracious acceptance speech and said that while art films had provided him with bread, he still got his butter and jam from commercial cinema. "My motto in life is to try and keep my feet on the ground. It's good to look up, but equally important not to forget to look down," he said.
The formal function was followed by a screening of the festival's closing film, Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Nizhalkkuthu (Shadow Kill). Set in the princely state of Travancore in the year 1941, the story revolves around Kaliyappan (Oduvil Unnikrishan), the official executioner of the kingdom who cannot come to terms with the guilt of having hanged an innocent man and drowns his sorrow in drink.
Ironically, the hangman's rope is endowed with curative powers when it is burnt as incense before Goddess Kali and the ash is rubbed on a sick person.
As per tradition, the King always signs a pardon for every person hanged in the state, but it never reaches the jail before the execution. So, while the King's conscience is clear, it is Kaliyappan (who is merely carrying out orders) who has to commit the ultimate sin of killing a fellow being.
It is obvious that the burden of his work is weighing heavily on the old man. His son, on the other hand, is a Gandhian who speaks out against the tradition of death by hanging. Yet, when his ailing father is ordered to carry out another execution, the son is bound to accompany the old man on this painful journey.
The night before the execution, a jail official narrates the story of a 13-year-old girl who was brutally raped and murdered by her brother-in-law to an inebriated Kaliyappan. The latter equates the dead girl with his own daughter Mallika, whose coming of age is celebrated at the beginning of the film. His already frail body and dithering mind cannot withstand the shock of the story's devastating end and he collapses, leaving the jail officials in a dilemma.
Nizhalkkuthu is a brilliantly crafted film that raises several questions about the rights and wrongs of life. The hands that give life to many, also take lives, and while Kaliyappan feels guilty about being an unwitting partner in the death of an innocent man, he doesn't think much of his magical ability to cure people. What makes the film a heartrending experience is the simplicity and goodness of Kaliyappan's character. The lead actor paints the helpless and tormented old man with great feeling which only heightens his tragedy. 
Another interesting film screened on the closing day was the Italian comic romance, Bread And Tulips. Directed by Silvio Soldini, the film revolves around a middle-aged housewife Rosalba (Licia Maglietta). While on a sight-seeing tour with her family, she is left behind at a bus station and her family notices her absence only much later. While she is waiting for them to come and fetch her, Rosalba develops a sudden desire to grab this opportunity to break away from the monotony of her life.
She hitchhikes her way to Venice and her husband's derogatory reprimand of her action only provokes her to prolong this adventure. While in Venice, Rosalba finds refuge with a waiter named Fernando and gets a job at nostalgic anarchist Natale's florist shop.
Meanwhile, the husband hires a plumber and lover of detective fiction to track down his wife in Venice and get her back. This leads to a chain of events that are funny and touching.
Bread And Tulips is a totally unpretentious film about relationships and about love, which blossoms in the most unexpected places. It also highlights the dilemma of choosing between the conflicting forces of reason and passion.
Afterthought: while the Film Festival attracted close to 4,000 delegates, barring the presence of Aamir Khan on the opening night and Shashi Kapoor, who attended the screenings on a regular basis, Bollywood actors were conspicuous by their absence.