2019 ‘গামক ঘব’ Directed by Achal Mishra
In a north Indian village, a family reunites at their ancestral home to celebrate a new birth in the family. It’s a joyous, carefree occasion. Over the next two decades, through festivals and feasts, births and deaths, the film observes one house as it ages and falls to neglect.
80/100
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Indian Maithili language film GAMAK GHAR directed by Achal Mishra literally captures a life of an ancestral house where the house itself plays the protagonist in the film! Director Achal had allready known it's literally impossible to capture someone's life in a limited time period specially when that someone is nothing but a very old HOUSE, so all he can do is "JUST LEAVE AN IMPRESSION"
The whole film is divided in to three parts, each of those three parts focuses on a house and the people who lives there in 3 different timelines in 3 different seasons. It's the rarest Indian film I have ever witnessed, storywise presentation wise and also technicality wise. The first part is…
a meditative ode to an ancestral home that breathes through celebrations and its people, grieves in silence and embraces its journey through time almost as if embodying the soul of baba. the intimate humanisation of the house evolves parallel to the gradual parting of the family only to be completely abbreviated into photographs slid into thin plastic films of an album, writings and translucent memories.
the poised camerawork—always static and mostly wide—and the atmospheric sound design bear a striking semblance to the work of Rima Das. how the framing of the characters in small spaces translates so organically on the screen and the brilliant mise-en-scène only make Mishra a force to be reckoned with.
Gamak Ghar is one that everyone recommended me to watch randomly. I know nothing but praises about this film and how the viewers deeply connected to this film in a very personal way and they're not wrong. This truly resonated me alot in a very personal way. Not because I connect to the characters but because I connect to the house. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I connect to the house so much and it felt nostalgic to me. This film splits with 3 parts. 1998, 2010 and 2019 with a different aspect ratios which except 2019 part the other 2 parts were subtly unique in its own way.
I know this is not about this film but this is gonna…
Gamak Ghar is a very relatable film for me. It made me reminisce about my beautiful memories of my ancestral home. Each frame reminds me something of my own experience. This film moved me so much into the zone of extreme nostalgic journey into my childhood. The film moves as realistic as possible. The characters are not as important, but the family dynamics played a major role in the narrative. I felt every character in this film, as true as possible, when time flies, people change.
The first part of the film takes place around '90s, which happens to be a glorious time for family values, happiness, enjoying the life. I'm grateful that I had experienced somewhat of this rare…
74/100
A sublime meditation on the idea of "home", slowly eroded by the tides of time. Poetic, haunting, creeps up on you in the most unexpected of ways. So glad to have seen this on the big screen.
Despite being so alien and far away in its setting, Gamak Ghar speaks to you in an Indian way. The domesticity, replete with the stillness and discrimination is beautifully recreated in the first 20 minutes or so itself.
I cannot speak of any significant experience with the village or small town life but it reminded me of the time spent in my ancestral village of Gujarat and even more the visit to my mom's hometown of Gadag in Karnataka.
The preparations for feast match countless family gatherings in Bombay. I could see my aunts and uncles in these frames.
It was also during these times and exchanges that I first became overtly familiar with Indian sexism, 15 years ago. I had dropped something on the floor during dinner at my house and went to get a rug to clean the floor. An aunt stopped me and said "Boys can't do such things. Your cousin sister will do it."
She did.
Gamak Ghar (2019) is a story that reflects the transformation of the events of the present to the bittersweet memories of the future. Simultaneously, the present is heavily drenched with the recollection of the past, the visuals of which have turned translucent but the aroma is alive with the same intensity. An aroma that fills the protagonist of this film, a house in the countryside, a house that is cognizant of this aroma and is striving to preserve it.
Gamak Ghar doesn’t offer anything larger than life. It doesn’t make efforts to create statements out of its screenplay. Neither does it reach absolute conclusions. It is a minimal effort at sketching complex portraits in which we can find our lives. It is the story of a retrospective house. It is a collective effort of people telling their own stories.
Every frame in Achal Mishra's Gamak Ghar feels lived-in. The film is about a house - A memory and time-space that slowly dissipates into thin air. Scored to perfection and beautiful to a fault, the film is about history, about people and those fleeting parables of loss that can never be defined but looked at.
A beautifully crafted and meditative narrative that captures perfectly the story of migration and its effect on the spaces that cannot migrate with us.
It's like you're flipping through an old album of a family you don't know and you pause to imagine the story behind each frame.
It literally felt like I relived my childhood.
A beautiful....unforgettable experience, will stay in my heart forever.
I do not know what to feel right now. Is it wrong to watch time take away the things you love or should I fight against it?
Gamak Ghar is a film that has touched the memories of my ancestoral homes and I am caught between regret and consolation over the loss of them.
Regret that I didn't do anything about it...
and consolation that I am not alone.
Tender and sensitive filmmaking
by Achal Mishra,
Beautiful and nostalgic cinematography by Anand Bansal
and perfect Production design
by Avni Goyal.
Amazing poster as well :)
Everyone has some place akin to a Gamak Ghar in their lives, a place you call home, a place that lives on without you in it, the way it did before you arrived. The personal here is extremely poetic and there's not much I could fault in Achal Mishra's film. It's beautifully shot, is patient and mundane without being boring or ordinary.
Edit: I just noticed the changing aspect ratios to signify different time periods and I think it really brought out the materiality of the house.
I can't write a review. I need to talk about this film for hours. I had tears and goosebumps. I cannot write a review.
