NOIR DRAMA

The weak foundations of a rich builder’s family are exposed in cinematographer-turned-director Shanker Raman’s drama Gurgaon, which releases on August 4. Shot in the satellite city, the film shows the perils of rapid development, instant wealth and the dirty nexus between politics and business. Brought up in Delhi, Raman shot the film in 2015, before Gurgaon became Gurugram—even then, a city grappling with infrastructural woes and high crime. “It is an extension of Delhi even in mindset, in the sense of aggression,” says Raman. “Gurgaon is a place that doesn’t work, or doesn’t work as well as it was intended to. For me, that stands out, but nobody is talking about that.”

In the film, these problems find expression via the Singh parivar. Preeth (Ragini Khanna) returns home from the US to take over the family’s real estate business, much to the chagrin of her brother Nikki (Akshay Oberoi)—long ignored because their alcoholic father (Pankaj Tripathi) favours his daughter. The irony of a daughter taking precedence over a son in a state known for its lack of equality between the sexes was a conscious choice—Raman’s film also addresses patriarchy, female infanticide and crime. And when Nikki takes a drastic step out of sibling jealousy, the ramifications are brutal.

Lensman of independent films such as Harud and Peepli [Live], Raman, who was credited as a co-writer and producer for Harud, is known to be open to collaboration. “I realised that my work [as a cinematographer] only begins when everybody else is ready,” he says. “I might as well help people. I will get my work done sooner and have greater control over it.” After Gurgaon, Raman is looking to take on another sibling relationship drama—this one set in Delhi during the 1984 riots.

“Gurgaon is a place that doesn’t work, or doesn’t work as well as intended”