REVIEWS
"The precise digital cinematography and symmetrical compositions give it an aspect of gallery work, while the shades of electronic music mixed with Western classical instrumentation pull the film right into the present. This is a film of extraordinarily striking aesthetics." –
Indiewire
"This young auteur has found a way to make films in India that feel urgent, relevant, artful and new." –
Indiewire
"Pairon Talle is a savage stab at the ‘Shining India’ myth...Compellingly shot by S. Nalla Muthu on HD, the film draws powerful performances from Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Saba Joshi." –
Forbes
“The early years of the 21st century seem to have brought forth a first cautious flowering of a new, independent, artistic Indian cinema. Slowly but surely, a new generation of Indian filmmakers seem to be reflecting Western auteur cinema, through the prism of their own culture – as demonstrated by recent feature films such as […] Pairon Talle (Soul of Sand) by Sidharth Srinivasan” –
World Cinema Amsterdam
"Straying from the formulaic Bollywood approach to filmmaking about the emergence of a ‘new India,’ Soul of Sand delves into the political underbelly of Delhi's National Capital Region." –
Buzzine Bollywood
"The film offers a seemingly authentic slice-of-life portrait of working-class people in a distinctive, even exotic (to American eyes) environment rarely seen in the movies that reach U.S. screens. But 'Soul of Sand' expands beyond such quotidian concerns to veer into melodrama and even exploitation territory, eventually transforming into a blunt sort of horror-art hybrid." –
The Bloodshot Eye
"This timeless story, rooted in the age old Indian caste system, has been filmed in a modern way, in a direct, frank style that looks more western than Indian." –
International Film Festival Rotterdam
"Set in an out-of-the-way corner of the National Capital Region—a prized area of urban growth and development in 'emerging' India—director Srinivasan’s scathing portrait of the politics of caste and money subverts the usual Bollywood melodrama formula with just a trace of the absurd." –
MoMA
FESTIVALS & AWARDS
2010
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Hubert Bals Fund Award, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM
Official Selection, GASPARILLA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SCOTTSDALE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
WORLD CINEMA FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART NEW YORK
