Qaushiq Mukherjee, aka Q, one of India’s most prolific and courageous indie filmmakers, is back with another bold yet entertaining film, Brahman Naman, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival this year and was also picked up by Netflix for the worldwide subscription video on demand service.
Brahman Naman is a film set in the 1980s about a group of misfit quiz team members from Bangalore University who manage to get into the national championships and embark on an alcohol-fueled train journey to Calcutta to compete.
They are all desperate to lose their virginity and are determined to defeat their arch-rivals. They may believe they are super cool, but in reality, they are horny geeks drenched in Quiz knowledge and the desire for something else.
When it comes to the subject matter of Q’s films, whether it’s the black and white rap musical “Gandu” or the film “Love in India,” where he brought the topic of sex out from behind closed doors and linked it to the love story of Lord Krishna and his lover, Radha, there’s something unique to be appreciated. He is one of the few modern-day filmmakers who is attempting to make whatever he wants.
As Q rightly says: “None of my films are for the squeamish.”
Cast: Shashank Arora, Tanmay Dhanania, Chaitanya Varad, Vaiswath Shankar, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, Sid Mallya.
Director: Q
The film generated a lot of buzz at Sundance and was even dubbed the “Wildest Sex Comedy.” Because most of us haven’t seen it in India, let’s watch it on Netflix as soon as it’s available.
Synopsis
It is the 1980s and NAMAN is a clever, know-it-all teenager. Along with his friends, AJAY and RAMU, they are ‘The Three Musketeers’ who win every quiz competition, using their prize money to get drunk. They think they are super cool, but in reality, they are geeks.
When the gang succeeds in getting into the All-India quiz final, they go on a chaotic train ride to Calcutta with BERNIE, their 60-year-old anarchist quizzer mentor. On the journey, Naman falls hard for NAINA, a super smart and drop-dead gorgeous quizzer, who is his superior in every way.
As we follow Naman on his quest for love and glory, it is his adventures along the way and the characters that fill them that make the story so special – outsmarting rival quiz teams, seeking their revenge when they can’t, and plots to humiliate the school jocks – all culminate in Naman finding out what he is really made of.
Brahman Naman is a true Indian teenage comedy. It is funny, touching, and will be universal in its appeal. It is about the exhilaration and confusion of being 17 – the pleasure of being in a gang, breaking the rules, acting big, falling in love – coming of age.
Where to watch Brahman Naman (2016)
