The Tale of a Lonely Ghost

Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost

Its a story of one unfortunate irrational mind which produces a situation which destroys everyone. If the challenge the nature , it's bound to be a catastrophe and in this movie its a domino effect. The character played by Irrfan is undoubtedly cannot be played and executed by someone other than Irrfan himself. He is a true artist and words are less to describe the versatility he chooses in his film carrier. Kanwar played by Tilotima Shome is also well done. The character is living in self guilt and humility at the same time and its only theater artists that can wear this sheen to showcase their capability. Honestly I had this movie for a long time with me but did not happen to see and when I did - I was just silent for some time. It leaves with thoughts and admire the way this is being narrated. The climax could have been much better and a little pacey. It dragged a bit in the end but till the half time its an interesting , well paced, ready to fire kind of buildup is achieved. You will enjoy as long as you don't die for mainstream only.

Iam still struggling to process the movie, its unbelievably dark, deep and has lots of layers, which you wont understand at first.( At least i didnt). I was hooked right from the beginning and were really intrigued to know how the story unfolds. Its one of these rare masterpieces, which you leaves you clueless at the beginning, but after rewatching you slowly start to comprehend the concept behind it. Iam aware, that this movie might be not suitable for the broader audience, cause it demands patience and interest for folklore& different storytelling, but its worth watching and i can recommend this movie to every movie lover! It will strengthen your understanding for movies on a different level! This is the first punjabi movie Ive ever watched and iam glad that it turned out to be a masterpiece.

I had the pleasure of watching "Qissa" (Punjabi, English sub-titles) at its North America premier at the Sikh Lens Film Festival in Orange County, CA on Nov 22nd, 2014. This is a complex, heart-wrenching tale powerfully etched by the dexterous hands of Anup Singh. The movie starts off with the backdrop of the 1947 Partition of India and the theme of loss runs right through it. The film then goes on to mercilessly expose the ridiculous limits a patriarchy must go to, to preserve itself. Umber (played by the incomparable Irrfan Khan) is a Sikh man uprooted with his wife and three young daughters from his village (in Pakistan) and forced to flee to the new India as a result of Partition. Soon after he is somewhat reestablished in India, his wife delivers a 4th daughter; at this point Umber declares he's had a son and brushing aside all objections proceeds to raise the girl as a boy even up to the point of marrying her off as a man. The absolutism of the patriarchy, accompanied by the threat of violence runs as an undercurrent throughout the film — the women mostly watch on helplessly until Umber's daughter-in-law unexpectedly decides to question the status quo. But it is too late and the story unfolds inexorably into a disaster for all. Thematically Partition as the starting point for the film is a powerful and relevant one. The patriarchy that invented the concept of "honor" off the backs of its helpless women then greatly exploited it during Partition - women, girls on all sides and as a matter of priority, were raped, mutilated, and devastated in ways unimaginable. The same patriarchy so bound to its feudal ties, the land it owned and a limited imagination, could only consider sons bearing its name. And this became so much of a part of the reality that not having a male heir became as much a matter of economic devastation as of social shame. As the director and screenplay writer, Anup Singh displays admirable restraint with limited dialog, nuanced performances elicited from his cast, and the straightforward telling of an explosive story. A metaphorical twist in the story leaves you stunned yet believing. I would be remiss if I did not call out the three women actors - Tilottama Shome, Tisca Chopra and Rasika Dugal - who were perfect in their respective roles; each held her own vis-a-vis Irrfan Khan. All in all a treat and I am rooting for this one as India's entry for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 Oscars!

New movie Reviews and lots more Hot news .... LIKE THIS PAGE : English Hindi TAMIL TELUGU Facebook : Movie Review by Yunus Irshad https://www.facebook.com/YunusIrshadsMovieReview Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (A) Hindi -------- my Rating: ★★★ HEAD SCRATCHING CLIMAX STRENGTHS:- * Trailer: attracts to watch. * Story Screenplay and direction: very good script for * Casting and performances especially by Irfan Khan.... WEAKNESSES:- * Tisca's performance expected a lot but not much to see... * Last 20 minutes confuses the audience..... FINAL VERDICT:- * Overall.. it is a super natural flick gives a strong message for a male dominant society in India with a head scratching climax and power packed performances. I liked Rasika Dugal's acting in the second half.... So go for a one time watch Umber Singh is a Sikh who loses everything during the separation of India in 1947 and is forced to leave his homeland. He obsessively wishes for a male heir. When his fourth daughter is born, he decides to wage a fight against destiny. Director: Anup Singh Writers: Madhuja Mukherjee, Anup Singh Stars: Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome | See full cast and crew »

A well-written script with an honest performance by the cast, the story telling has an Indian folk tale touch. Tillotama Shome is great with her performance, the scenes with the mother and father are perfect and heart touching, and it is because of her performance that this movie comes out as a subtle art film rather than a Yash raj melodrama. The movie talks about the how the desire of having a boy child was prevalent in the past and to what level the people can be obsessed with such pity things and destroy their and others happy peaceful life. Do watch and support the movie, the movie perfectly encapsulates the sense of an Indie classic(that is a new story line) and not an artificial work like "ship of Theseus".

Most of the reviews here are by Indians or people of Indian descent and, since the film was made for an Indian audience, maybe you should look to them for a more informed opinion. There aren't many reviews though, so here's one European perspective. The review is full of spoilers throughout. It's a film of two halves. The first, actually well over half the running time, is fine – the story of a father obsessed with having a male heir, a continuing problem in many parts of the world, and the difficulties that arise when he insists his fourth daughter is a boy. Others have commented more knowledgeably on this aspect. The script (in my case via subtitles) is well-written, it doesn't exactly rush along but I didn't feel it was too slow, the settings are atmospheric and the direction competent. I did have a problem with some of the acting though. It's not just an India-UK thing. I've watched a few Indian films recently with women in traditionally male roles, such as 'Mary Kom' and 'Mardaani' both of which have excellent performances from their female leads. People seem to love Irfan Khan who plays the father here, but I found his acting so restrained as to be almost metronomic – OK it's hard to express subtle emotion from behind a bushy beard and turban, but he hardly seems to try. However, Tillotama Shome, as the daughter-dressed-as-son, makes him look positively animated, sleepwalking through scene after scene with no facial expression whatever. Are we supposed to conclude that dressing a girl as a boy turns her into a zombie? Their two wives on the other hand, were both excellent. Then we get to the second part. Daughter/son kills father, starts to act a bit (she's really good at this point!) and things get even more interesting. Will she continue in disguise in order to have something like a normal life with her wife? Will she, as the wife urges and with her promised support, finally find herself as a woman? Or will it all fall apart for them? But the film-maker seems to have no interest in these fascinating characters. Instead of answering these questions, he resurrects the less-than-fascinating father as a ghost, weird things happen with no explanation, and all those interesting characters are soon gone: one wife dies in a fire, the other commits suicide and daughter/son just disappears. None of it makes the least sense and no other reviewer has even guessed at what the director is trying and failing to do here. What he succeeds brilliantly at is wrecking what to this point has been a very decent and worthwhile movie. A typical ludicrous and off-putting scene: Traditionalist vigilantes are gathering to punish the 'unnatural' woman-dressed-as-man. Ghost-father shows up, removes his shirt and says: 'I'm the son – do I look like a woman?' Maybe not, but what he does look like is a man in his 50's, definitely not a teenage boy. However, the vigilantes are all completely satisfied and just melt away into the underbrush. This is the point where you switch channels if it's on TV, or chuck the DVD in the garbage. I forced myself to watch on to the end, but there was nothing more to see, folks.

Part fairytale, part fantasy, part folklore; Qissa weaves together historical ties, family bonds, issues of identity, belonging and the supernatural, to create a film that takes you on a journey that's unlike any cinematic adventure you've embarked on before. Set in the Punjab and beginning at the start of Independence in 1947, the film is a metaphor for many of the experiences that Indians and Pakistani's faced during this bleak period, but rather than presenting the situation from a political perspective, it focuses on the tale of one family and the deep, dark secret that haunts them. The moment she is born Kanwar's father declares her to be a boy, bringing her up as his son. With such a lie there comes burden and over the years we see Kanwar develop and grow, trying to come to terms with his/her alternate gender while the father figure (played by Irrfan Khan) deals with the weight of his actions. From the moment Qissa begins, through to its conclusion, every part of your senses are engaged. Visually the production is stunning. The landscape of the Punjab is depicted as beautiful yet barren. The washed out colourisation adds an ethereal feel, giving the film its fairytale quality. The haunting soundtrack is the soul of the movie, melodic yet mystical, it alludes to the unearthly feelings that engulf each character. Emotionally this films entwines you physically and mentally - there's an urgency to reach out onto the screen and put your arms around Kanwar, knowing there is no one she can turn to, and morally it questions your beliefs about what is acceptable when it comes to upholding family values. To pick out an actor and praise them for their performance would make the others seem insignificant when in truth, every member of this ensemble cast is worthy of a mention. It's not as easy as saying 'the best performance of Irrfan's career' or 'Tillotama Shome masterfully plays a boy and a girl': these are actors who are defining the boundaries of acting itself, presenting to what is largely a conservative audience in Indian, new possibilities. The casting of Irrfan Khan, a Muslim actor who does not speak Punjabi into such a robust Sikh character while Tillotama who plays Kanwar is herself Bengali, again taking on a language that was unfamiliar to her, gives this film an additional layer of intelligence. The language used in the film alters in dialect to reflect different time periods, which itself brings another dimension to contemporary Punjabi filmmaking. One of the highlights of Qissa is the tender depiction of friendship and love between Kanwar and Neeli, the girl that he marries. The portrayal of the warmth, respect and desires the two women have for each other is both honest and sensitive. The folklore element of the movie is at times hard to spot because it feels so natural. Even though the subheading to the film is 'The Tale Of A Lonely Ghost', when you are watching it you don't always recognise the spectres and shadows that accompany each character. Dealing with the supernatural may seem far-fetched, yet because it's done so in context, at no point do you question the authenticity; it is engrained in the script. 12 years in the making, Anup Singh's courageous production Qissa is part funded by Indian, German, French and Dutch investors and as a result it contains the essential ingredients that will make this a crossover success for Western and non-Western audiences. Pushing the boundaries of Indian and Punjabi pictures, it's an example of cinema that has the power to define modern filmmaking.

QISSA WITH IMRAN KHAN QISSA is a Punjabi language film of passing interest primarily because it features incredibly versatile Bollywood actor, Irfan Khan ("The Lunchbox") in a nearly unrecognizable transformation as a bearded turban clad traditional Sikh in rural Punjab speaking only Punjabi throughout. In this one Irfan plays a man obsessed with having a male offspring to carry on his name but is married to a beautiful wife who keeps pumping out girls. In desperate denial he decides to raise the latest female arrival as a boy in every respect, including the usual masculine Sikh rites of passage. However, when it comes time to marry the Pseudo-son off drastic problems emerge leading ultimately to disaster for all parties concerned. The premise is a little far-fetched -- at times ridiculous, but the sincere acting of all players makes the drama involving if not exactly credible, the presentation of rural life in the Punjab -- rarely seen on film with any kind of authenticity, is of documentary level accuracy, and watching modern urban Lunchbox Irfan take on the trappings of an old-fashioned rural Sikh is almost like watching Paul Muni become a Chinaman in The Good Earth.

Qissa is an Indo-European co-production in the language of Punjabi and it seems to be a movie made for film festivals. It is reminiscent of Matrobhoomi: a nation without women, partly because it is based on a similar theme of female foeticide, except here it is presented like a folk fantasy story where the female-child is not killed, but is just undesirable. In this movie the lead protagonist played by Irfan Khan is a Punjabi man who lost everything during the partition civil war, and becomes obsessed with having a male-child to continue his generation. But his wife has already given birth to three female children, so when she gives birth to the fourth one, he wants it to be a boy; want is perhaps a weak word, he NEEDS it, and will not accept a girl-child. The viewer is left rather puzzled because when his fourth child is born, the midwife says "Congrats" and the father is elated announcing "It's a boy, a boy has been born in my house" but the mother herself says in protest "Why don't you kill me already" On what should be a jubilant occasion, the mood is very sombre. The puzzlement continues to haunt the viewer as the boy grows up, that something is a bit amiss about this boy. This boy is looks like a girl a little, he is weak and his sexuality seems to be confused. Then when the boy is now an adolescent and is getting female attention, he does not seem to reciprocate, and at the same time he seems to be struggling to try to be a typical boy who does show interest. It is only when he is married to a girl and his father makes advances on the girl because he wants a boy, does it dawn on the viewer: the fourth child was a girl too. The movie is depressingly slow from start to finish, the best way to describe it would be by the movies tag line --lonely. It maintains its depressing, melancholic mood throughout, supported by a camera that is always moving, but always moving slowly. Also everybody seems to be so serious and the actors all emote very slowly, dragging out scene after scene. The tedium grows, but as the reality dawns on the viewer why it is so, it suddenly becomes hauntingly effective. Unfortunately, when the movie goes into magic realism mode towards the end with the father who is now a wandering lonely ghost, it loses its effectiveness, because the supernatural aspect was not required in this story at all. This movie could have been a brilliant meditation on the sexuality and the identity crisis of a girl who is made to live like a boy, but they shortchange this for a rather bewildering supernatural climax. This is a rather modest production, technical values are just adequate to tell its simple tale, most of it is shot on location and camera- work is pedestrian. The best part is the acting, Irfan Khan is in his elements here and is able to bring out the obsessive quality of the father. The background score is also effective and haunting. The movie is rather lonely to sit through, but it is worth it the end. I was bored for the first hour, but by the time I had realized, though I had a nagging suspicion that the boy is a girl, I was gripped in shock and could appreciate the vision of the director Anup Singh.