Gandu

Banned in India for its very explicit sex scenes and boasting plenty of dialogue and lyrics that might make viewers blush (even the title is a slang term translated as “asshole”), this Bengali film by a director calling himself simply Q (aka Kaushik Mukherjee) is about as anti-Bollywood as could be imagined. Shot in black-and-white except for some of the hardcore sex sequences, which are presented in lurid color, Gandu begins as a grubby portrait of the titular young man (Anubrata Basu), who wastes his life buying lottery tickets and dreaming of becoming a famous rapper and getting laid (while stealing cash from his mother's sleazy boyfriend). But even from the start, Gandu pumps up the narrative volume with rapid-fire editing, mini-music videos, split-screen sequences, and printed text overlaying the visuals. After Gandu teams up with a rickshaw driver who fancies himself the new Bruce Lee, the film grows ever more manic and technically experimental as our antihero's desires are either fulfilled in reality or at least appear to be as a result of drug-induced hallucinations. Designed to shock, the nihilistic, sexually graphic Gandu is a visual and aural assault on the senses, a slice of cutting-edge Indian filmmaking that is definitely not for everyone. A strong optional purchase for only the most adventurous collections. (F. Swietek)