The Bangalore Film Society will present a specially curated melange of six films, seductively styled as “Take me back to Constantinople,” from December 9 to 11. The movies will provide an insight into the cinema of Turkey.
The pick of three films being presented this weekend are Eskiya (The Bandit), Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalim (The Girl with the Red Scarf) and Hababam Sinifi (Outrageous Class). From the exploits of a legendary bandit to a maudlin romance to a comic campus caper, the triple offerings should indeed be a delight for the film buffs.
Legendary Baran
The Bandit, by Yavuz Turgul, an award-winning 1996 film is a lightning-paced, action-cum-romancer chronicling the epic adventures of the legendary Baran, the bandit, released from prison after 35 years. Blending fairy tale elements while carrying the notion of reality within a fictional story, the film has the bandit going through Istanbul in a daze and lost in a totally alien world.
Baran, the bandit, searches for his beloved and the mortal enemy who has stolen her and seeks revenge upon his best friend turned treacherous, while saving the life of another friend, a tough street punk.
Atif Yilmaz’s ‘The Girl with the Red Scarf,’ is a 1978 Turkish romantic drama film, based on the short story, ‘The Red Scarf,’ by Cengiz Aytmatov. The film, which won three awards, centres around a village girl who falls in love with a truck driver from Istanbul.
Adapting one of history’s greatest love lore with utmost finesse, the classical film makes for an enduringly entertaining watch full of heart-warming ensembles with its prop of posers — What is love? What makes a lover? What makes a spouse? What makes a father?... And which is harder: to go back or not to go back?. In keeping with its title, ‘Outrageous Class,’ by Ertem Egilmez, is a riotous comedy.
Based on a novel by Rıfat Ilgaz, the film focuses on a group of lazy, carefree students whose freedom is threatened with the arrival of a new headmaster.
The headmaster though a warm-hearted person is a disciplinarian and becomes the butt of their tricks and jokes. The film’s success was such that it set off as many as five sequels.
The film screenings are at the Bangalore Film Society office, 33/1-9, Thyagaraja Layout, Jaibharath Nagar, Maruthi Sevanagar. Admission is free. For details call: 9886060096 (Mohan Ram).