A still from ‘Dhawain’ Photo credit: MUBI India
Misty dream Arman. Morning. Cold…the frames with which indie filmmaker Achal Mishra invites us. Dhuin are tender, but the story that follows is as tough as it gets. After a stellar debut with 2019 Gamak housebrings excitement. Dhuin, an exciting and poignant story about an aspiring actor’s deeply painful struggle with dreams and reality. Immersed in form and measured in its narrative, the 50-minute indie film feels like a Polaroid capture of everyday suffering.
Dhouin (Mithli)
Director: Achal Mishra
Cast: Abhinav Jha, Satyendra Jha, Prashant Rana, Ankash Prasad, Bijay Kumar Sah
Runtime: 50 minutes
Story: Pankaj, an aspiring actor from a small town, wants to move to Mumbai to fulfill his dreams. However, he needs to weigh his goals against his responsibilities to his family.
A mundane, sleepy town with a dim view, Dhuin Tells the story of a young man’s struggle with reality. Pankaj (Abhinav Jha) dreams of becoming a big film star, but like most dreamers from an underprivileged background, he lacks the means to do so. He spends his time performing in local theater plays, taking selfies near the airport and being mean. Addas With fellow actors and filmmakers who keep his dreams comfortable and safe. Pankaj’s only known procedure is to get a train to Bombay, the dreamland of Indian cinema.
Still, Pankaj’s yearning seems to come not from a desire to chase his dreams, but to escape the life he is leading in Darbhanga. He spends most of his time in the fog late at night, as if to remind him of his elderly parents and their bleak financial situation. Even his quietest moments are tormented. A YouTuber’s acting advice to cry on a bow works for Pankaj, but with such deep sadness, it’s only the actor who sheds tears easily. Achal marks the rush of anxiety in Pankaj’s mind by the sounds of a train coming on the railway track outside his house. Achal also highlighted Pankaj’s struggle by bringing the story to reality in post-Covid rural India. From airplanes flying over Darbhanga to watching films by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, everything seems far away for Pankaj.
Dhuin A minimal yet immersive visual language. In the case of eg Gamak houseWhere the memories of the old life of the village were the dual colors of hot and cold. DhuinThe visuals are also painted for a reason. The foggy visuals mirror the fog that shrouds Pankaj’s dreams and the path to achieving them. The story also progresses through a simple but metaphorical walk down a dark highway, a touching moment in the film. It is also carefully measured in narrative, as in the case of me Gamak house; Darbhanga 2022 seems to need less time to sustain life, and Achill gets plenty of time to tell his story but doesn’t need to lengthen his shots.
However, the most impressive aspect Dhuin It has self-awareness and how it sees itself. For example, Pankaj feels alienated when he sits down with a group of budding filmmakers to plan a docu-fiction, which has no room for actors like Pankaj. They talk about why. The wind will carry us. It was Kiarostami’s first film that sparked his visual poetry, and it’s all on Pankaj’s head. A casual apology from one of them strikes a wrong chord in Pankaj. This is an important moment in the story, but it also shows that we, the audience watching this docu-fiction, are also far removed from the real world Pankaj. As this budding actor talks about the mix of non-actors and actors in Kiarostomi’s films, this very documentary-fiction film, Dhuin, actors like Abhinav Jha have been mixed with non-actors with ease. Achill even finds a way to bring in a metaphor and a swarm of mosquitoes on Pankaj’s head shows how he feels inside.
At least according to mise-en-scene is the use of music. The title theme of Tajdar Junaid is a poignant piece that tugs at our heartstrings. Its emotional highs are reminiscent of their 2013 album’ What is the color of your rainbow?‘
In the end, what sticks in one’s mind is the film’s handling of the theme mess and how it doesn’t cross its T’s. Maybe Pankaj will grow up to be Pankaj Tripathi – a hat tip in the film too. Or maybe he will fail. Dhuin Tells the everyday story of everyone’s burdens and shows the brutality of what dreaming can cost in our world. It’s not just dreams that come to tragic ends, just dreaming has a price.
Dhuin is currently streaming on MUBI.
