Film Review: Garbage

“Although the events are dangerously true, this is a work of fiction”. Reminiscing on the opening title-card of the film, one could have had absolutely no idea how ‘dangerous’ – fabled or not – it would turn out to be. And that, probably, would be the only prism through which the Indian censors would view this film.  When Rami (Trimala Adhikari) skips to Goa to get away from her self-created mess – letting herself be filmed in a threesome, including her ex – she had no idea what she was getting into. Especially as Phanishwar (Tanmay Dhanania), the impotent, testicular-cancer afflicted cabbie who drives her from the airport to her cottage has a mute female slave Nanaam (Satarupa Das) chained from her neck to the wall in his house.

With gruesome violence too, ‘Garbage’ is an overly explicit film (releasing on Netflix) depicting the dark, infernal side of politics, religion: Q dares to show the seamy side of practically everything sacrilegious and immoral, including villagers ‘genuflecting’ before self-appointed godmen.

The only Indian feature to premiere in the Panorama section at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, Garbage seems destined to run the gamut of film festivals worldwide.

With just three principal characters (the runtime of 105 minutes probably too short to give their backstories) Q stays true to the reputation he had set for himself of shocking viewers in his equally abominably titled ‘Gandu’ (2010).

To designate Mukherjee – or Q as he calls himself professionally – a radical, maverick, rebel or even an iconoclast would be a gross understatement.