Ghashiram Kotwal (1976)

Original title

घाशीराम कोतवाल

Directed by

K. Hariharan

Genre

biographical film, historical film

Country

India

Runtime

1h 48m

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 4 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film adapts a play about a corrupt official in 18th century India. It follows his rise to power and the abuse of authority. The story critiques political and social structures.

theatricalintensehistoricalslow-burncollectivebleakexpressiveunsettlingpolitical

What happens

Ghashiram Kotwal is a 1976 Indian Marathi-language film, which is an adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar's play of the same name. Tendulkar himself wrote the screenplay. Coming at the height of the Parallel cinema movement in India, the film was an experiment in collective filmmaking. It was produced by YUKT Film Cooperative, a 16-member collective consisting mostly of graduates of the Film and Television Institute of India. The title role was played by Om Puri, who made his debut with this film. The final shot of the film lasts for more than ten minutes. According to K. Hariharan, one of the four directors of the film, this shot is unique in film history as "the world’s longest shot on a standard reel of 1,000 feet to be shot by four camera operators". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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