The third day of the Nitte’s International Film Festival was even more critical for the movie buffs out there because it featured a master class by the National film awardee Namrata Joshi who was interviewed by Subha J. Rao, both famous for their unfiltered movie reviews. The workshop started with a genuine conversation between them, unfiltered as their reviews.
Talking about her career as a film critic, she spoke about how her five years in Bombay got her closer to Independent movies. But she also states that commercial films or Independent films have their zones, making them incomparable. Also, Namrata doesn’t shy away from talking about how she often dives into the gender aspect of movies, as it is ingrained in her DNA to do so. According to her, cinema is a synergy of various art forms, making them an essential mode of expression in society. Commenting on the same, even Subha also spoke about a difference between the female and male gaze, which affects a piece of article they write.
Maheen Mirza, Director of ‘Ek jagah apni’, asked Namrata if she followed any code of ethics. Answering this, she said that she doesn’t review movies if she was anyway part of them to avoid biases. And she also doesn’t even pay any attention to movies made for hatred.
From PS1 to The Kerala Story, the reviewers were completely honest about their views on these movies, which instilled a duty within the people, to be honest in their opinions. The biggest advice for aspiring film critics was to absorb as many films as possible because “You can only connect if you watch a lot,” according to Namrata.
(Shreya Shetty, Student, NICO)