Some views on The Bankrupts (Haal-e-Kangaal)

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The Bankrupts (Haal-e-Kangaal)
V N Lakshminarayana, Critic, Mysore
It was a fruitful experience to watch 'The Bankrupts' at Mysuru and again In Bengaluru. 'The Bankrupts' is a high profile movie packed with the dialectics of form and content, image and sound, verbal and the nonverbal expression, truth and falsehood, bluff and imagination, gender and human relationships, capital and cinematic art- and finally the ideology in the era of postmodernism that is embedded in the very fabric of social life of the people at large. An undercurrent of sadness born out of systemic deprivation of existential opportunities to realize one's talents adds to the absurdity of the entangled life situation the two artiste friends are placed in, gives the movie a tint of comedy too. The minimalistic approach adopted in creating the entire movie is not only novel but also path breaking in the production of Indian films.

Rajiv Kumar, Film maker, Delhi
'The Bankrupts' is a rich experience. With only 2 characters, confined in a small urban flat, holding the viewer's interest for about 105 minutes is a feat. There is something Ozu like here. 

Usha Kattemane, Writer, Bengaluru
The film ran for about one hour forty five minutes, it had only two characters. Set in a one bed-room house, it could be said that the story of the film is about the conversations that a film scriptwriter has with a wanna be filmmaker. I am saying 'it could be' because both these characters have a past. And it is mutually woven together. The film demands a heightened sense of concentration on the part of the spectator. The techniques used in the film makes the one hour forty five minutes that the film has, look lesser. 

Sunil Bhadri, Academician, Manipal
 'Haal-e-Kangaal' a feature film that revolves around two friends who meet after 14 years makes for for compelling viewing. It is so sad such films don't get theatrical release.

Rajkumar Bhan, Filmmaker, Paris
I saw your "Haal-E-Kangal".. That instigated something within me... "Film Kaa Keeda" (The Filmy itch). And just few weeks back, Konchalovski was here in Paris, for a conference. I had booked two seats, for me and my son... I could not go, but my son went with my wife... What Konchalovski talked about film making was narrated to me by my son... like you have made this film of yours... just like your characters who narrate things to each other... There and then, I decided to do a film on Poland, the land of "Chopin"...of "Wajda" and the rest of the known film makers... the whole idea to go ahead was after watching your film.... and Konchalovski's thoughts on film making...

Shrikant Prabhu, Filmmaker, Bengaluru
The film did not slacken at any time. The use of editing with jump cuts as a narrative device was nice, it solved the limited space problem effectively. The actors maintain excellent continuity of emotions and dialogues. The sound design too is very good. It was bit odd with the Yakshagana track in the background. But you justified it well at the end with the Tulu film and contextualised it. You have pulled off a real difficult task.

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