Gamak Ghar


Gamak Ghar is a 2019 Indian Maithili-language feature film written, edited, produced, and directed by Achal Mishra. The film premiered at 21st MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2019, where it won the inaugural Manish Acharya Award for New Voices in Indian Cinema.
The film chronicles two decades of a family house in a small village in Darbhanga, Bihar.

Plot

Summer of 1998: a family has reunited at their ancestral home to celebrate a new birth in the family. It's a joyous, carefree occasion, with trips to the mango grove, game of cards, feast, and light-hearted conversations.
Autumn of 2010: The landscape of the village has changed significantly. Awkward lunch conversations, formality in speech, and undiscussed decisions, show that the family is not as close as it used to be. While the elders struggle with tangled family dynamics, the younger ones reminisce about the old times with fondness, digging up old family photos and memorabilia.
Winter of 2019: Engulfed in a dense fog, the house feels like a ghost of its former self. Nobody visits the house anymore, and the neglect is visible in the mouldy walls, flaking-off plaster, and unhinged doors.

Cast

The film has received largely positive reviews from critics. Namrata Joshi of The Hindu called it "a poignant ode to the village home", further writing, "Gamak Ghar is structured like a tripartite movement of a gentle musical piece that encompasses within it the cycle of life". Writing for Rediff.com, Aseem Chhabra compared the film to the works of Yasujiro Ozu and Hirokazu Kore-eda. In a 4 star review, Pratishruti Ganguly of Firstpost wrote, "Gamak Ghar's brilliance lies in Mishra's masterful manipulation of the craft of cinema. He directs with affection and precision, but his touch is so nimble that sometimes it feels like you're revisiting your family video reels, and not watching a feature film."
Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles who saw the film at the Mumbai Film Festival said: "“Having a house as a protagonist and building a story around it is remarkable. I thoroughly enjoyed the film."
Gamak Ghar was also one of the 20 films to be nominated for FIPRESCI India's Grand Prix: Best Feature Film of 2019. At the NFDC Film Bazaar 2019, the film won the VKAAO Award for Most Anticipated Film by a Debut Director.