0-41* - the Malayalam indie that sets out to break new ground!

One of the joys of being a die-hard Malayalam cinema fan is that you're treated to both brilliant mainstream cinema, and a flourishing indie and festival film line-up.  The most recent addition to the latter is writer/director Senna Hegde's 0-41* - the trailer was released yesterday, on Indian Independence day, as the film's way of also celebrating "indie-pendence", or the independence of indie filmmaking.

Hegde's film is described as a kind of docu-drama, in which real characters -- none of the people in the film are actors -- share real accounts of their lives.  There's Rajesh, a security guard and cable TV handyman.  There's Abhi, doing what he can where he can.  There's the college dropout Sanal.  There's part-time driver Vipin, whose meagre work ethic stands in stark contrast to his big dreams. 

The film is set in a village in Kerala, and contrasts the story of two volleyball teams, one of which is on a losing streak (this is what the film's title hints at); it uses volleyball as the lens through which these men's lives are viewed, with a humourous and often stark look at such themes as the generation gap, faith, rural versus urban life, and alcoholism.

The film's aim is to take these "characters" -- the non-professional actors are pretty much playing themselves -- and use them to blur the lines between fiction and reality, hopefully allowing us greater insight into their lives.