Gulaal

Anurag Kashyap is rapidly gaining a reputation as one of India's hottest young independent film directors. His first screening at the Festival is a power-packed and provocative mélange of political intrigue, corruption, love and deceit, sewn together with poetic, almost Shakespearean sensibilities and an evocative folk-music score. Innocent college student Dileep arrives in the Rajishtan city of Jaipur where he is rescued from a college gang by Rananjay Singh, a rebellious son of a local raja (king). As the gang seek retribution the two men get protection from Dukey Bana, a local powerbroker, who draws them into a secret force of radical Rajputs struggling to secure independence for Rajisthan from the Indian Government and return the local raja to the throne. Dileep is swept up by circumstance to contest the college elections on behalf of the separatist party, but as several royal contenders emerge and start to fight it out, the college and district explodes into a bloodbath from which an unexpected new leader emerges. Kashyap deftly explores the corruptive nature of power, and the conflicts created as modern India tries to contend with dark forces from its past.

Cary Rajinder Sawhney