Newton

DIRECTOR: Amit V Masurkar   COUNTRY: India   YEAR: 2017   LANGUAGE(S): Hindi   SUBTITLES: English   RUNNING TIME: 106 min  

SECTION: International Forum 2017

SCREENINGS

Friday, 29.09., 8.30 p.m., Festsaal
Sunday, 01.10., 3.00 p.m., Festsaal

SYNOPSIS

As India, the world’s largest democracy, braces itself for another general election- with 9 million polling booths, more than 800 million voters, and costing nearly $5 billion — Newton Kumar, a rookie government clerk finds himself entrusted with a task that appears deceptively simple: conducting elections in a remote village in the jungles of central India. The bushes teem with Communist guerrillas, who have been waging a decades old war against the state, even as the indigenous tribals live without any access to mainland amenities. Conducting ‘free and fair’ elections in a minefield like this is no child’s play, as Newton learns over the course of this eventful day. Unfazed with the cynicism and danger all around him, Newton is determined to do his duty. But, as they say in the jungle, ‘The more things change, the worse they will get.’

AMIT V MASURKAR
Amit V Masurkar lives in Mumbai, India. He has written for sketch comedy shows and Bollywood films. His debut as a director, the low-budget comedy, Sulemani Keeda was an indie sleeper hit. Newton is his second film.

FILMOGRAPHY
Sulemani Keeda (2014), Newton (2017)

SCRIPT: Amit V Masurkar, Mayank Tewari   PRODUCERS: Manish Mundra, Pramila Mundra   CAMERA: Swapnil S Sonawane   EDITOR: Shweta Venkat   MUSIC: Naren Chandravarkar, Benedict Taylor   CAST: Rajkummar Rao (Newton), Anjali Patil (Malko), Pankaj Tripathi (Atma Singh)
PRODUCTION: Manish Mundra, Drishyam Films   WORLD SALES: Pascale Ramonda