Sometimes it gets challenging to keep things realistic and straightforward, be it in life or films. Naturalistic acting and realistic direction influence a movie's acclaim. Thithi integrates both almost perfectly.
Realism at its best, Thithi is a fantastic depiction of everyday life in a village with interesting characters. Events transpiring in the next eleven days following the death of a 101-year-old man named Century Gowda (quite an amusing name) in the village of Nodekopallu in Mandya have been appealingly captured in a two-hour time frame. Effectively using non- professional actors, Thithi brings out and intertwines different facets of human nature – greed, lust, insecurity, anger and love – which are commonly witnessed in everyday life.
Employing non-professional actors takes me to Robert Bresson's films (like Pickpocket and A Man Escaped) and his style of filmmaking. Thithi is nearly Bresson-like in its use of non- actors, and portraying how life usually is and how events organically occur. Thithi is also brave filmmaking at its best – brave because of its usage of non-actors, absence of songs (typical in Indian movies), lack of highly climactic points and even background score! And yet it works.
This no-nonsense, light-hearted film begins with Century Gowda's death and simply ends post his thigh (funeral). Witty, clever and casual, this slice of (village) life film is made to look effortless and grows naturally as it progresses. This is a funeral not to be missed, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Realism at its best, Thithi is a fantastic depiction of everyday life in a village with interesting characters. Events transpiring in the next eleven days following the death of a 101-year-old man named Century Gowda (quite an amusing name) in the village of Nodekopallu in Mandya have been appealingly captured in a two-hour time frame. Effectively using non- professional actors, Thithi brings out and intertwines different facets of human nature – greed, lust, insecurity, anger and love – which are commonly witnessed in everyday life.
Employing non-professional actors takes me to Robert Bresson's films (like Pickpocket and A Man Escaped) and his style of filmmaking. Thithi is nearly Bresson-like in its use of non- actors, and portraying how life usually is and how events organically occur. Thithi is also brave filmmaking at its best – brave because of its usage of non-actors, absence of songs (typical in Indian movies), lack of highly climactic points and even background score! And yet it works.
This no-nonsense, light-hearted film begins with Century Gowda's death and simply ends post his thigh (funeral). Witty, clever and casual, this slice of (village) life film is made to look effortless and grows naturally as it progresses. This is a funeral not to be missed, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
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