A consumer junkie's life comes to a standstill when her father disconnects her cable and internet.
by Pooja Hegde
Hindi, English
17 Min / India

IndianComedy

369

"POP! - Selected for Director's Lounge (Berlin)- is a celebration of the MTV music video culture and the subsequent ‘globalisation’ that bombarded the formerly conservative India in the 90’s, bringing a different kind of world with it."

Alisha, a young imaginative and pretty teenage girl, borrow a lot of her life and imagination from reality tv, malls and stuff she sees on the internet. Her own life, is a never-ending celebration of reality TV show - "lets add another angle to already entangled life of yours truly - that's me - Alisha". In her own mind the show of her life is called "Life and Times of Alisha" and contains everything from snippets of interviews of her old neighbor (where she talks only about her ofcourse) to a "swayamvar" war between her alleged boyfriend and a local hulk (a SRK lookalike).

However, her perfect life comes to a standstill when her father (her "blood-relative") tells that he has decided to disconnect the cable and the internet (in a remarkably hilarious scene that spoofs our Indian TV shows).

And from here starts a rather unique and unusal detox of Alisha which ironically ends in a breaking news type of situation. (And while on that scene, please dont miss the other breaking news:"Prison hostages released for some pizza", "Woman found cop passed out in her bed").

Lots of enthusiasm, attention to detail and brillaint sparks (operatic climax music, robot dance by a mummy in end credits (played by now famous actor Anil Mange)) makes the film really unique. Director Pooja Hegde does a remarkable job in keeping the film whacky, peppy and at the same time covertly planting philosophical undertones. It's interesting that everything we choose, right from biscuits we eat to the "SRK lookalike" to have crush on, hints at the fact that our choices are gradually being assembly lined. And later with no TV & malls to distract us, will we , like Alisha, face fundamental questions we have no answers for ? Who are we, how do we choose, and why we are here?

This film is really high on our list of "films to watch" from India. As the director says - "watch, listen, don’t think too hard, it’s okay if it doesn’t make sense, enjoy it, hate it, but do sit back for the ride." After all in how many movies will you find mumbai streets turning into a video-game mid-scene.

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