DVD Release: Gandu

DVD and VOD Release Date: Dec. 11, 2012
Price: DVD $24.99
Studio: Artsploitation

Anubrata Basu dreams of becoming a rap star in Gandu.

Artsploitation Films, a new distributor dedicated to bringing “edgy international movies to North American audiences” goes for the gusto with its debut release, the 2010 Indian cult musical drama Gandu.

Directed by Bengali filmmaker “Q” (Kaushik Mukherjee), this independent black-and-white Indian film takes a frantically paced, music-infused look at a poor young man from Kolkata (Anubrata Basu) who makes his cash by pickpocketing his prostitute mother’s johns and dreams of becoming a rap star.

Hindi slang for “asshole,” Gandu had its international premiere at the 2010 South Asian International Film Festival in New York City, where it won the Jury Award (Runner-Up) for Best Film. It subsequently screened at film festivals in Berlin, Rome, Istanbul, Amsterdam, London, Helsinki, Singapore, Croatia and South Africa. Ironically, the film has been banned in its native India, reportedly due to its anarchic nature, language, and scenes depicting full frontal nudity and sex.

I haven’t seen Gandu yet, but I’m intrigued by what I’ve read about it, particularly in Twitch Magazine, where founder and editor Todd Brown states that it’s a film “that straddles a heretofore unnoticed line between Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting and Gaspar Noe’s Enter The Void.”

Gandu’s DVD and VOD release in December, 2011 represents its commercial premiere in the U.S.

Presented in Bengali with English subtitles, Gandu ain’t no Bollywood film, as can be seen in its trailer:

Buy or Rent Gandu
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