>Titodutta: added Category:Films directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee using HotCat

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added Category:Films directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee using HotCat

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{{Short description|Indian Adult Film}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Gandu
| image = Gandu poster.jpg
| caption =
| director = [[Qaushiq Mukherjee]], known as 'Q'
| producer = Taha Kamran
| writer = Surojit Sen Qaushiq Mukherjee
| screenplay =
| story =
| based_on = 
| starring = [[Anubrata Basu]] Abal Joyraj [[Kamalika Banerjee]] [[Silajit Majumder]] [[Rii Sen]]<ref name=variety>{{cite news |url= https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944458/|title=Gandu |author= John Anderson |date=30 January 2011 |work=Variety|accessdate=24 February 2011}}</ref>
| music = [[Five Little Indians]]
| cinematography = [[Qaushiq Mukherjee|Q]]
| editing = Manas Mittal Quashik Mukherjee
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2010|10|29|New York City}}
| runtime = 85 minutes
| country = India
| language = Bengali
| budget =
| gross =
}}

'''''Gandu''''' is a 2010 Indian erotic [[black-and-white]] [[art film|art]] [[drama film|drama]] film directed by [[Qaushiq Mukherjee]].<ref name=why/> It features Anubrata, Joyraj, Kamalika, Silajit, and Rii in the lead roles. The film's music is by the [[alternative rock]] band [[Five Little Indians]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-07/news-interviews/28352900_1_new-song-harihar-lyrics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104220750/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-07/news-interviews/28352900_1_new-song-harihar-lyrics |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 November 2012 |title= Gandu Finds Its Groove |date= 7 February 2011|work=[[The Times of India]] |accessdate=24 February 2011}}</ref> ''Gandu'' previewed at [[Yale University]] before making its international premiere on 29 October 2010 at the 2010 South Asian International Film Festival in [[New York City]].<ref name=why>{{cite news |url= http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-19/news-interviews/28214286_1_gandu-first-film-rap |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121104213815/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-19/news-interviews/28214286_1_gandu-first-film-rap |url-status= dead |archive-date= 4 November 2012 |title='Why this shame about sexuality?' |author= Priyanka Dasgupta |date=19 November 2010 |work= [[The Times of India]] |accessdate=24 February 2011}}</ref> ''Gandu'' was an official selection at the 2011 [[Berlin International Film Festival]] and was also screened at the [[Slamdance Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livemint.com/2011/01/14220019/Tradition-with-a-twist.html |title=Tradition with a twist |author=Shamik Bag |date=14 February 2011 |work=Mint |accessdate=24 February 2011}}</ref>

''Gandu'' has received mainly positive reviews from critics. [[John Reis]] called it "a stunning visual and narrative feast"<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-reiss/exciting-times-in-park-ci_b_815788.html |title=Exciting times in Park City |author = John Reiss|date= 29 January 2011|work= Huffington Post |accessdate=24 February 2011}}</ref> while ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said it is "a happily transgressive rhyme-fueled romp".<ref name=variety/> Gandu has caused some controversy because of language and scenes of nudity and sex. Many audiences left during the sex scenes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/berlin-buzz-meet-q-kolkata-director-who-doesnt-mind-his-ps/752366/0 |title=Berlin buzz: Meet Q, Kolkata director who doesn't mind his Ps |author= Shalini Langer|date= 20 February 2011|work= Indian Express |accessdate=24 February 2011}}</ref> Because of the controversy the film did not have its first public screening in India until 2012 at the [[Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema|Osian Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Ganguly|first=Ruman|title=Rituparno's Chitrangada to premiere at film festival|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-27/news-interviews/32888224_1_freedom-of-expression-section-osian-film|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729094429/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-27/news-interviews/32888224_1_freedom-of-expression-section-osian-film|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 July 2013|accessdate= 5 August 2012|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|date=27 July 2012}}</ref> The main star [[Anubrata Basu]] is shown with his [[penis]] fully [[erection|erect]] in a sex scene with [[Rii Sen]].<ref>[http://www.hammertonail.com/reviews/drama/gandu-film-review/ "GANDU: An Explosive Film that Melds I STAND ALONE with 8 MILE in the Ghetto Hood of Calcutta"] ''Hammer to Nail.com''. Published 30 January 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2014.</ref>

==Plot==
The movie is set on the life of an unnamed protagonist who is called Gandu by most who address him in the movie (an Indian slang/swear word that would literally translate to 'of the ass', the English translation running in the subtitle translates it to the English 'Asshole'). Gandu is portrayed as a frustrated teenager whose state of mind is shown by intercuts of him rapping in Bengali (it is later revealed in the movie that he is also the member of a rap band). Gandu's mother seemingly supports the family through the magnanimity of her 'lover' Dasbabu. Gandu's mother and Dasbabu are shown having graphic sex a number of times. Gandu himself is shown repeatedly sneaking into the room of the copulating couple to steal money from Dasbabu's wallet, which he uses to buy drugs and play games in Dasbabu's Internet Cafe. Gandu seemingly has complex emotions regarding this stealing and takes care to hide it from his mother .

Gandu is also apparently quite lonely. His choice of hairstyle (shaved nearly bald) and general proclivity to drugs and rap makes him an object of ridicule in front of most of his peers, who mock him as 'Egghead Gandu'. His loneliness is dispelled when he literally bumps into 'Ricksha', a cycle rickshaw driver, who slaps Gandu and then scares him off by a bizarre show of Kung Fu. That night Gandu has a dream of himself and Ricksha in a near naked embrace.

On one of his stealing missions, Gandu's mother sees him and hides him from Dasbabu and seemingly laughs in complicity. This causes Gandu great anguish and he curses in frustration. His mother then comes and knocks on his door. He is late in responding and she slaps him angrily and walks away.

Gandu urges Rickshaw to 'take him away'. Ricksha and Gandu then go off to consume [[Datura stramonium|Dhatura seeds]] which causes them both to go on a strange and extremely intense trip. When they come to their senses they find they have no money. In a meta narrativistic scene the director Q himself drives into the scene and Gandu is told by Ricksha how Gandu is a character in a movie being shot by Q. Gandu cannot quite comprehend this.

Gandu comes back to [[Kolkata]] to find that he has won the Bhutan State lottery of fifty thousand rupees; then he gives his mother some of the money and goes on a crack binge with Ricksha. Ricksha then admonishes him for never having actually slept with a woman despite incessantly rapping about cunt, pussy and sex. Gandu then has a surrealistic and very explicit sex with an unnamed hooker, who constantly meows and at the end of coitus whispers 'demo' to him. Gandu goes back to Ricksha telling him how he will now record a demo of his rap and show it to the [[Asian Dub Foundation]]. The movie closes with Gandu finally becoming successful.
Gandu also ponders on the meaning of life and what we must do with it.

==Cast==
*[[Anubrata Basu]] as Gandu/Shubham Singh (the protagonist)
*Joyraj Bhattacharjee/ Joyraj as Ricksha
*[[Kamalika Banerjee]]/ Kamalika as Gandu's mother
*[[Silajit Majumder]]/ Silajit as Dasbabu
*[[Rii Sen|Rituparna Sen / Rii]] as the girl in the Cafe/Kaali/the hooker

==Production==
''Gandu'' was shot in Kolkata on a limited budget with only eight crew members. It was filmed in black and white with one scene in color and had no official script. Q. used a high-definition [[Canon EOS 7D]] [[Single-lens reflex camera]] to shoot the film. In order to prepare the cast for their nude scenes, Q. required them to undergo several workshops in which they used [[Theatre of the Oppressed|boal techniques]]. Rituparna, who plays several different roles in the film, is Q.'s real life girlfriend.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/article1016926.ece |title=A telling tale |author= Sudhish Kamath|date= 30 December 2010 |work=The Hindu |accessdate=24 February 2011 |location=Chennai, India}}</ref>

==Title track==

The film's soundtrack has garnered rave reviews as well, composed by the Calcutta-based alternative rock band [[Five Little Indians]] and mixed by London-based producer Miti Adhikari.

==Awards==
*2010 - Jury Award for Best Film at the South Asian International Film Festival<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_g-will-win-over-fans-exhausted-with-the-tried-and-true_1509393 |title='G--- will win over fans exhausted with the tried and true'|author=Meenakshi Shedde |date=February Kolkata Mangalore |accessdate=24 February 2011}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|1841611}}

[[Category:2010 films]]
[[Category:2010s Bengali-language films]]
[[Category:2010 independent films]]
[[Category:Bengali-language films]]
[[Category:Films set in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian independent films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian films]]
[[Category:Indian erotic drama films]]
[[Category:Indian black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films about drugs]]
[[Category:Films directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee]]

Gandu (film) - Revision history

>Titodutta: added Category:Films directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee using HotCat