A film that hisses and stings

Kanika Verma's Dansh isn?t a typical Mumbai film, writes Saibal Chatterjee.

A Hindi-language film set in the remote northeastern state of Mizoram? A rarity indeed! What, then, would you make of an adaptation of a play by Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman? Well, clearly, Dansh  (Sting) isn’t a typical Mumbai film.

HT Image

Directed by debutante Kanika Verma and produced and written by Anish Ranjan, it is a delightful package of unusual elements, great acting and gripping drama. The ‘action’ takes place in the confines of a single house and the actors convey emotions through their faces and eyes rather than their hands and bodies.

Dansh transports the celebrated play, Death and the Maiden (filmed in the mid 1990s by Roman Polanski with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley), to a Mizoram setting without missing too many tricks. “The credit,” says Verma, “isn’t all mine. Dansh is a result of teamwork.”

The year is 1986 and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Mizo National Front supreme Laldenga have signed the Mizo peace accord. As the strife-torn state sits on the cusp of impending peace after 30 years of armed struggle, three characters, the MNF spokesman, his activist wife and a doctor play out a fascinating drama of psychological attrition in the course of a single night.

A still from the movie, Dansh

“It is the history of the place that drew me to Mizoram.” says Verma, a Political Science graduate from Lady Shriram College, New Delhi. “It is the only northeastern state that has made the transition to peace after decades of unrest.”

This powerful drama about crime and guilt, suffering and retribution, peace and violence could not have been set in a more apt milieu, feels the young director. “Mizo society is predominantly Christian and the lives of the people hinge on their faith in the power of forgiveness and penitence,” Varma explains.

Dansh revolves around a female guerrilla warrior haunted by the atrocities heaped on her during confinement in an Army camp, a civilian physician who may or may not have been the perpetrator of the crime and the woman’s husband who is preparing for surrender and a new life of political power on the morrow.

The narrative, shorn of the sort of diversions that often mar average Hindi films, pulsates with tension and suspense as the three high-strung figures play a cat-and-mouse game without succumbing to overt melodrama.      

The only aspect of Dansh that jars a little is the presence of non-Mizo faces in the cast – Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni and Aditya Srivastava. “It was impossible to find Mizo actors who could speak Hindi well enough,” says Verma. “We therefore had to settle for tried-and-tested screen performers from Mumbai.”

Verma insists that Kay Kay Menon and Aditya Srivastava aren’t really as non-Mizo-looking as they may seem to be at first glance. “See the faces in the crowd scene towards the end of the film. They are all local Mizos. They aren’t too unlike Kay Kay Menon in appearance,” the director argues.      

But remarkably, once the taut and riveting drama begins to unfold, the sheer quality of the performances takes the viewer’s mind away from the question of authenticity. Says Verma: “It’s the emotions that are important. The drama in Dansh takes place primarily inside the minds of the characters and, therefore, the external trappings recede to the background.”

Kanika Verma, who reached Mumbai without any formal training in filmmaking, learnt the ropes from Hansal Mehta, whom she assisted during the making of Jayate, Dil Pe Mat le Yaar and Chhal.

As Dansh  is readied for release later this year, Verma is confident that it has potential as a multiplex film. “I am not interested in the blockbuster space,” she asserts. “But I do know that if we want to continue making this kind of cinema, we have to create a viable platform and support system for it.”

Verma is clearly part of the bold new breed of young Mumbai filmmakers who possess the courage to challenge received wisdom and wager all in pursuit of their artistic credo. Dansh, a film with a sting in the tale, is a great beginning.