In a quiet corner of the house, the literary giant Vinod Kumar Shukla gently oscillates on a wooden swing. He is chatting with actor Manav Kaul on his experiences with legendary parallel cinema director Mani Kaul. Kaul asks him about how he felt when the filmmaker바카라who adapted Shukla바카라s 1979 novel Naukar Ki Kameez into a film in 1999바카라passed away. Shukla바카라s calm voice becomes slightly heavy. He mentions his shock at receiving the news that Kaul was terminally ill. He recalls his last phone conversation with Kaul, where he beseeched him to get better and continue making the film adaptation of his other novel, Deewar Mein Ek Khirkee Rehti Thi (1997). The film never got made바카라Kaul died before that. He reminisces about their relationship, primarily premised on creativity. Then, in his characteristic style of humour, he says, 바카라Beech beech me behas hoti thi...ki Vinod ji, paani mein rangoli kaise padegi? Phir wo rangoli udegi kaise? Aur wo saree ke roop me kaise lipat jayegi?바카라 (Sometimes, we argued...he would ask me, how can rangoli be put in water? And how will it fly from there? And how will I show it turning into a saree?) A toothy, childlike laughter follows.
Achal Mishra바카라s Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai (2024) lulls you quietly into the world of Vinod Kumar Shukla, an eminent Hindi writer and poet from Chhattisgarh. Shukla바카라who was recently awarded the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour in the country바카라and the space that he inhabits on an everyday basis, are the primary protagonists of this non-fiction work. The style of filmmaking is simple, even unremarkable. Conversations between Kaul, Shukla, and Shukla바카라s son Shashwat Gopal, are the only dialogues that are heard. Other than that, the language of this film is silence. Different parts of the house and its sentient and non-sentient residents바카라the trees and plants, the birds and the birdfeeders, the pictures and the books, the walls and the swing바카라inhabit the frames of the film as the conversations go on. In its depiction, the film attempts to capture the floating, transient moments between the thoughts that must drive the author바카라s pen.
Many cinephiles and devout Mishra fans are disappointed with the way the film has been made. While some say the film is all about 바카라aesthetics without content바카라, others are calling it a 바카라missed opportunity바카라 to capture the life and thought of a literary stalwart. However, such a reading eventually falls through, if one were to unburden the form of non-fiction cinema from the onus of the evidentiary. The film isn바카라t meditative because of the aesthetically pleasing chiaroscuro; it is the way the greatness of Shukla바카라s fleeting musings drift through the ordinariness of his lifestyle that draws you into the film. An attempt, however flawed, is made by the filmmaker to converse in the language of familiarity that is Shukla바카라s stronghold. Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai isn바카라t meant to narrate how Shukla has navigated his passion throughout his life; it merely sneaks a glimpse into the simple mundanity of a writer바카라s process.
The conversations are impromptu; Shukla바카라s insights are not structured or scripted before being presented on camera. Yet, the depth of his knowledge and calibre seeps through even in these extempore articulations, which come as responses to the most ordinary questions. Meanwhile, the space of his home speaks volumes through its stillness. Not only does it exemplify his thoughts, and the thoughts of his son Gopal, on being grounded in the quotidian for inspiration; it also busts the myth that an author needs groundbreaking, larger-than-life events as a trigger to write profoundly.
Gopal바카라s insights into his father바카라s idiosyncrasies as a writer and the investment of the whole family into his creative endeavour need special mention here. The adoration and respect with which he speaks of his 바카라Dada바카라 adds another dimension to the author바카라s world바카라that his stories take shape from the enduring love of his family for him and his literary oeuvre.
The breezy innocence in Shukla바카라s narration style is complemented by the poignant poetry that he recites, which is woven into the conversations within the film. The lightness of frames and the sparse editing allow for the breathing space to take a moment and reflect on what he says and believes. The viewer is absorbed into his words and slips into a reminiscence of instances from their own repository of private memory, giving way to a resonance not just with what is spoken within the meter, but also what is spoken without.
The misgivings that Mishra may have had about making a film on a figure so tall are embedded into his style of capturing Shukla바카라s daily schedule. Yet, with its humble shortcomings, the film is a loving glimpse바카라with an undercurrent of a little starry-eyed awe바카라of an ageing albeit evergreen writer, whose erudition stems from the deep content he feels in his modest world. Summed up succinctly in Shukla바카라s own words, after he watched the film, 바카라Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai Aur Main Bhi Toh Hu.바카라
