In the now-derided 1980 comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy , a tribe living in the Kalahari desert mistakes a bottle thrown from an airplane to ...
In the now-derided 1980 comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy, a tribe living in the Kalahari desert mistakes a bottle thrown from an airplane to be a sign from the creator. In Ashwin Gangaraju’s Aakashavani, a tribe that is cut off from civilisation first worships a stone, then a man whom they believe to be a divine messenger and finally a radio.
Aakashavani, which is out on SonyLIV, is better treated as a parable about oppression and liberation than in literal terms. Filled with wide-eyed indigenous people in desperate need of saving and villains out of your average potboiler, the movie benefits from solid production values, sincere performances, and a message about choosing your gods widely.
Although the 124-minute film is set in an unspecified period, the hair-styles, costumes and analogue technology suggest a time not long after Independence. The cruel Dora (Vinay Verma) has a tribe under his heel. Using the services of a one-eyed enforcer named Samba – who appears to have escaped from the sets of SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali – Dora rules with an iron fist and oodles of deceit.
The blind faith of the tribals in Dora’s divinely ordained powers is unwittingly shaken by the discovery of a radio. The communication apparatus that occasionally crackles to life replaces...
