Prague Review – Cinema Superlative

Rating:

Let’s make things clear at the outset itself… Prague is not cinema for the masses. It is for the discerning audience. Prague is classy and cool. The début director, Ashish R. Shukla has a perfect lead actor in Chandan Roy Sanyal. And what direction and acting! Without exaggeration this is the best cinema from an Indian director to hit the theatres in a long time. Move over The Lunchbox. So what’s all the fuss about? Read on.

A budding architect, Chandan (Chandan Roy Sanyal) has lost his best friend, Arfi (Arfi Lamba) and thinks he is responsible for his suicide. He moves to Prague to pursue his thesis. He is accompanied to Prague by another friend, Gulshan (Kumar Mayank), who he thinks highly of. In Prague he meets a Czech gypsy girl, Elena (Elena Kazan). The dead friend keeps appearing to him even in Prague. Now, will Elena help him forget about his lost friend? Is Prague a way out of it or is it only going to push him into deeper sorrow?

Prague has some excellent sights and sounds of the city that blend with the story perfectly. They slowly become a part of the movie. Lovely music and song, some of which is in the native language, will stay on with you. The camera work is excellent. One can feel the pulse of the movie through the way it is shot.

The human mind is complicated and complex. So are the characters in this movie. It is immensely pleasurable to watch such talent explode on the screen. There is substance in the screenplay and that comes shining through. Prague is a heady concoction that hits you at the right spot.

Elena, Arfi and Mayank all have played their parts extremely well. In fact, one is so enamoured with the acting of Sanyal and the other supporting cast that you cannot absorb it all, story counting, in one viewing and the movie surely beckons an encore.

If you don’t enjoy indulging in experimental cinema, then Prague is not going to charm you. However, if alternative cinema is your cup of tea, then this is one movie you should not miss watching at least once and maybe even a second time.