This is a thread on BulBul. It’s very rarely that a first film has this kind of an impact on me . I just wasn’t expecting it. I had read the script years ago. It’s in my mailbox . It had the vision, it had everything that’s in the film but it still wasn’t this what I saw..
I remember the films that have given me a career , be it a Black Friday or GOW, didn’t make the kind of impact on the first cut that it did finally. First cuts are often close to the scripts . Which means the script had everything but wasn’t the final film.
Every time we’ve spent time in recognising & chipping away at it to find the film, most times the result is a film that’s satisfying & sometimes can also go wrong like BV. I say that because somewhere along the way we lose objectivity. It’s a hard place to be for the filmmaker.
When I saw Bulbul, the title sequence sucked me in, the reds of it, I love red,Red is cinematic, visceral. What I didn’t expect were the red nights, the red moon , from a horror mystery it had transformed into a moody fable, pure poetry and it had me enthralled and engrossed .
Finished watching it & I was like wait, I had read the script but why did I not visualise it the way it turned out. I got myself a whiskey & played it again & then I saw, also since I know Anvita’s stubbornness ,I saw her take her time on it, I could feel her agony, her ecstasy .
I saw her knowing that her Bulbul is in here but she hadn’t found it yet, I could see her not giving up or thinking I have done my film and this is it..NO..she kept at it, chipping away, she and the editor playing with it, this is where I’d say editing Bulbul was rewriting Bulbul
The music @ItsAmitTrivedi ,the performances, the breathtaking and courageous cinematography #SiddharthDiwan ,which easily could have become gimmicky ,and those actors .. such courageous choices from @RahulBose1 @paoli_d and @paramspeaks and seeing it through, not flinching at all
The two leads. Last time I saw them was in Laila Majnu where the film was more about Majnu @avinashtiw85 (a criminally ignored performance of that year) playing Satya, but this time the film wasn’t about him, secure to let his Laila become Bulbul and fly..
And Fly she does . @tripti_dimri23 as BulBul soars. She embodies her. The nervous first timer Laila is such an assured, grown up adult Bulbul
I don’t want to say anything more about the film.. or tell you the story or the metaphors or the statements it makes or it’s politics.
I don’t want to say anything more about the film.. or tell you the story or the metaphors or the statements it makes or it’s politics.
Experience Bulbul.. it’s not a scary horror, it’s a cautionary tale , it’s a fable of times, it’s Bengali Gothic(if there ever is such a thing). It joins the list of best first films that I have seen in this millennium like Court, Fandry, Subramaniapuram, Udaan, Masaan, Makdee
..Tumbaad , Luck By Chance, SOT, Liar’s Dice, Annayum Rassolum, Killa . It has a voice . It’s the start of a strong filmmaking voice all her own. It’s an original . Also a shout out to Karnesh Sharma. The man , the Producer who has come of age since NH10 , coming into his own
Secure enough to stay in the background &in the shadows but strong enough to start casting his own shadow ,holding the flag high for his more famous younger sister @AnushkaSharma , who empowers all their filmmakers & people they produce under @OfficialCSFilms .
I couldn’t find more people on twitter involved so hastagging them. Great learning for me as a filmmaker here. Thank you Anvita Dutt
