III Smoking Barrels (2017)

III Smoking Barrels: Directed by Sanjib Dey. With Subrat Dutta, Indraneil Sengupta, Mandakini Goswami, Amrita Chattopadhyay. An anthology of three stories; each exploring a different stage in life – A CHILD involved in armed conflicts, a BOY in drug peddling and a MAN entangled in elephant poaching.

“III Smoking Barrels is the first ever film I have seen which is set in North East India. And I am yet to see another film which is set in that region. III Smoking Barrels ( I will call it III SB) is a film which will be remembered for many reasons. Itu0026#39;s a pioneer in many ways – I have not seen any other Indian film with so many languages u0026amp; multi-cultural portrayal, I donu0026#39;t know any other Indian film which talks about child soldiers, I donu0026#39;t remember a full death metal gig in any other Indian film, I donu0026#39;t know an Indian film with songs in 4 languages, I havenu0026#39;t seen a film where the u0026quot;THE ENDu0026quot; card appears just before the intermission etc etc. III SB is a raw and wild film – very realistic yet stylish. The film has many layers. Fortunately I have visited NorthEast India in 2012 and I read couple of books on the region so I could see the subtle layers. Though its a crime drama, it deals with many other aspects of life for instance just before Donnie is going to get killed , he tells his mother that he doesnu0026#39;t know when he gonna come back home. In the third story, Mukhtar u0026amp; Ikram are rural Moslems but they were not shown wearing a skull cap until they are in real trouble. Thatu0026#39;s a typical nature of we human, we turn towards God when we are in real trouble. But these things are shown in such a subtle way. I couldnu0026#39;t notice them in my first watch though. I think the script is the hero of the film. It is a very simple script but very unique. . Actors are all superb specially Subrat Dutt. I think he deserved a National Award. I quite like the sound of the film too, specially in the 3rd story – jungle becomes live with the ambience sound. One think though I didnu0026#39;t understand in the film is why did the director u0026amp; the cinematographer decided to show the jungle not so green. Northeast is so green otherwise. I donu0026#39;t normally like anthology films but this film seems to strike a cord. A cult in making for sure.”