Mastram
2020
Original language: Hindi
- drama
- comedy
The story
An aspiring author living in the heartland of 1980s India discovers that sex sells when the addition of erotic content to his book finally results in sales.
What it’s like
Warm, dusty small-town light and the soft, saturated colours of a 1980s Indian street: cream walls, faded signboards, tea-stall steam, and interiors lit by tube lights and yellow bulbs. The camera mostly stays close and conversational, lingering on faces in cramped rooms, with a bouncy, playful score that lifts the comic scenes. Its vibe is wry and affectionate, a bit saucy, with the ironic amusement of a town that is scandalised by what it secretly enjoys. The pace is brisk and episodic, built on quick exchanges and running jokes, and the emotional register stays light even as the characters' ambitions and embarrassments mount. An aspiring writer slowly learns that his own compromises have a price, and the people around him are drawn into the fallout. The sexual content is frank and central to the premise, with adult humour and suggestive scenes, but there is no graphic violence and little real menace. It suits a late-evening watch with a friend, or anyone who enjoys satirical period comedy with a cheeky edge and doesn't mind adult themes.
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