TRISHNATRISHNA

TRISHNA

TRISHNATRISHNATRISHNA

TRISHNATRISHNATRISHNA

TRISHNATRISHNATRISHNA

TRISHNATRISHNATRISHNA

TRISHNATRISHNA

TRISHNAWords

By

Avalon

LyndonBritish director Michael

Winterbottom’s chaotic collection of petprojects has ranged from the subdued

period drama of Jude to the art-house pornof 9 Songs, and from the bright lights and colourful characters of 24 Hour Party People to the dark Huxley-esque sci-fi of Code 46. Trishna, a reworking of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, is the latest in a long line of surprises from a director who refuses to be pigeonholed.

Perhaps scarred by memories of frostbite during the shooting for The Claim in Canada, Winterbottom’s most recent Hardy adaptation takes us to decidedly sunnier climes. Transporting Tess across centuries and continents, Trishna lands with a shudder on contemporary Indian soil. Playing fast and loose with the minor details, Winterbottom wrestles the heart from the story and sets it loose on new terrain. But while the physical setting might be different – the action spans from dusty Jaipur to glitter-ing urban Mumbai and back again – the story still hits home.

Trishna is a reflection on love and betrayal in a world where status and wealth mean everything. Freida Pinto plays the Trishna of the title, a young and beautiful girl who works hard to feed her family in a rural Indian village. When wealthy British boy Jay (Riz Ahmed) whisks her away from her hometo work in his father’s hotel, she seems to have found her ticket out of poverty. But, as she soon discovers, nothingin life comes that easily.

TRISHNA

TRISHNATRISHNA

Words

By

Avalon

Lyndon

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

While he might be best known for his role in Chris Morris comedy Four Lions, Riz Ahmed steals the show as love interest Jay, a typical likely lad with a taste for beautiful places and beautiful women. Despite whacking the charm offensive up to eleven from the offset, Jay still comes across as trustworthy, solid – an all-round good egg. Ahmed plays the part with such an effortless style and natural cadence of speech that he seems just like someone you’d bump into down the pub. So when the corruptive and corrosive influence of power begins to take hold, it comes as a massive blow.

It’s always a tricky prospect when a West-ern director offers an ‘eye onto India.’ Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! and Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire were both slated by critics accusing the directors of ‘poverty porn,’ of allowing Western audiences to revel in the beauty of others’ misery. But while Winterbottom doesn’t shy away from the realities of life in India, heneither exploits it nor idealises it. And while he turns an almost documentary-style handheld camera on scenes of poverty and wealth, he still manages to side-step that thorny issue of representing the ‘real India’ but presenting a more general focus, cloaking an allegory for British colonial control within a personal story.

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguilingFrustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Flick through anywriting on India andthe same words will popup: the country is a feast for the senses, with its boldcolours, its rich aromas. And, predictably, it’s hard not to waxlyrical about Trishna’s stunning landscapes,its beautiful costume design and Amit Trivedi’sShigeru Umebayashi and haunting, ethereal soundtrack. It’s difficult not to be distracted by he countryside’s rustic, unspoiled beauty or the slick style of its burgeoning metropolis.

But even with- out all of these sensory, distractions, the film would remain a powerful, moving and intensely human story. Trishna is a fairy-tale ending that never comes true, a story of love, loss and the seductive and destructive influence of power. So while the final scenes might lay it on a bit thick – the choirs of singing

children might have been a step too far – you can’t help but feel personally involved. It’ll make you want to reach into the screen and give a few of its characters a slap round the face. Frustrating, painful and beguiling, while Trishna is far from perfect, it’s clearly a labour of love.

TRISHNATRISHNATRISHNATRISHNATRISHNATRISHNA TRISHNATRISHNATRISHNA

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Frustrating,

painful and

beguiling

Trishna is in cinemas 9 March