Q’s Political and Personal ‘Garbage’ Makes an Impact at Berlin

Qaushiq Mukherjee’s ‘Garbage’ is making heads turn at the Berlinale.

Qaushiq Mukherjee’s Garbage creates a buzz at the Berlinale 2018.

Qaushiq Mukherjee or Q, the “enfant terrible” of Indian cinema since he made Gandu in 2010, seems to have another winner on his hands. The director’s latest film titledGarbage, was screened to a full house at the Berlin Film Festival, and is the only Indian film selected at the festival this year. Garbage has already got a positive buzz around it and by the looks of it, the film won’t be getting an official release in India any time soon.

This isn’t only because of Q’s tendency to provoke and shock with his depiction of sex and violence, it’s also because as film critic Meenakshi Shedde puts it in her reaction to the film in FirstPost, “Garbage is a politically explosive film, making daring comments on the right-wing ideology taking over India's political discourse and policy.”

In a review on Screenanarchy.com, J Hurtado calls Garbage, “...a bold, no holds barred attack on the hypocrisy of the religious right wing in India today. It attacks the establishment and the mob mentality not with the scalpel-like precision of something like Anurag Kashyap’s recent boxing melodrama Mukkabaaz, but with the blunt force trauma of a crowbar to the face. And you know what? It works beautifully.”

Garbage is set in Goa and revolves around 3 main characters Phanishwar (Tanmay Dhanania) a driver who also doubles up as a social media troll, Nanaam (Satarupa Das), who is literally Phanishwar’s sex slave and Rami (Trimala Adhikari) whose sex clip has been leaked online by her ex-boyfriend.

Qaushiq Mukherjee with his gang from Garbage at the Berlin Film Festival.

According to Q the trigger for Garbage was the rape and murder of a friend in her own apartment close to where he lived in Goa. The film was his attempt to look at how violence affects sexuality and a journey to understand love, lack of it and lack of empathy.

While reviewing Garbage, Shubhra Gupta writes in the Indian Express, “It also becomes a bit much in the way the sex—brutal, relentless—is a constant presence, and the violence is red, bloody and visceral. But there is no doubt that a Q needs to exist, because someone needs to be making the kind of cinema he does: it is ugly because it shows so much ugliness, and yet it is necessary, because without it, there would be no mirror.”

Q says Garbage was almost entirely made within a 2km radius of his home, with available resources. The film is co-produced by Shailesh Singh, filmmaker Hansal Mehta and Q himself.

Screenanarchy compares Q to Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose films are not shown in his own country but is celebrated internationally. While it’s true that Garbage won’t be releasing in theatres India, it is likely to be picked up by any of the online streaming platforms soon, so wait for it!

(The Quint, in association with BitGiving, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for an 8-month-old who was raped in Delhi on 28 January 2018. The baby girl, who we will refer to as 'Chhutki', was allegedly raped by her 28-year-old cousin when her parents were away. She has been discharged from AIIMS hospital after undergoing three surgeries, but needs more medical treatment in order to heal completely. Her parents hail from a low-income group and have stopped going to work so that they can take care of the baby. You can help cover Chhutki's medical expenses and secure her future. Every little bit counts. Click here to donate.)