Summer of 2007

Five wealthy medical students run away from their college, and find meaning in their lives. 8216;Summer of 20078217;, coming in the summer of 2008, is an interesting coming-of-age story by a debutant director. It8217;s also a brave choice of subject: farmer suicides and avaricious landlords taken from the real-life incidents in Vidarbha are the plot points Suhail Tatari raises, with some success.

The first half is set in a suburban medical college where our gang hangs out in OPDs and wards and white coats and stethoscopes draped gracefully round their necks. Student politics rears its ugly head, and the five rich kids Sikander, Gul, Arjan, Yuvika, Aalekh get stopped in their tracks, filled till then only by fancy clothes, gadgets, gals, and rolled joints, interrupted by classes. They head out ostensibly to do 8216;rural service8217;, but with full intentions of getting back to the good life.

It8217;s the reality checks which the film shifts to, post interval, which make it a worthwhile enterprise. A cynical doc Ashutosh shows the students a life they8217;ve only been dimly aware till now : the lives of farmers who find death a better alternative than life, the vicious, powerful landlord and his son who rapes and pilfers Vikram Gokale, Prashant Narayanan, and the helplessness of those around.

Tatari traverses classic Benegal territory, with this return to the rural, but not quite with as much impact, because he is forced to swing between the harsh textures of real life, and lit-up drama . Given that villages have practically disappeared from films, he has to put in a whole bunch of yo8217;s and bro8217;s, and 8216;shehari8217; slobs and yobs, because that8217;s the only way he can get to the 8216;gaon8217;, which is carefully made to look pretty : if you have a nice lake in the background, and an item number, it makes a hanging more palatable. And looks like his apprehensions were right : the first show in my neighbourhood multiplex was cancelled because there were no tickets sold.

Which is a huge pity, because 8216;Summer of 20078217; is a relevant, well-acted, well-intentioned film. It needed much better publicity.

shubhra.guptagmail.com