“Dev Bhoomi” (Land of the Gods), a feature film directed by noted Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic is a story that portrays gender inequality and caste divides.
Indian actor Victor Banerjee plays the lead role of Rahul who returns to his village in the Himalayas after 40 years.
Set against the backdrop of the spectacular Himalayas, the drama of the film falls a bit flat in the first non-Serbian-focused film by the director.
Cast of the film also includes Geetanjali Thapa as Shaanti, Raj Zutshi, Uttara Baokar, V.D. Sharma, Avijit Dutt, S.P. Mamgain, Ambar Kant, Priya Sharma, among others.
Story of the film revolves round Rahul returning from exile in England to his village after four decades, which infuriates the villagers as they cannot forgive him for his “sins” in the past.
In the film we see that four decades earlier, Rahul had disappeared amid a scandal that still raises questions, however, the script doesn’t give any details of that incident.
Upon on his return, Rahul develops a romantic relation with a local girl, which results in conflicts leading to violence and tragedy.
The story is told in an unpleasant flat method for which the film progresses in slow-moving fashion. Thus, the narrative was not that particularly surprising or powerful.
Milan Spasic brilliant cinematography captures the beauty of the magnificent locations. Colour tone and camera angles added intriguing, meditative atmosphere in the film.
Entirely was shot in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, Milan Spasic’s used widescreen lenses to depict the remote locations which inevitably highlighted production values and beauty of those remote areas.
Victor also co-authored the script of the film with the director while Kristina Pozenel edited the film. This film was Goran Paskaljevic’s first collaboration with star/co-writer Victor Banerjee
As a powerful actor, Victor brought considerable charisma on the screen in the film. Supporting actors also gave powerful performances, but their attempts were not so effective for the flat story-line.
Director Paskaljevic's “The Powder Keg” (1998) is the most acclaimed movie, winning a number of awards including the International Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival. “Dev Bhoomi” won best film award in the International Panorama competition at the Bari Film Festival in Italy.
This film will be screened today at the Dhaka International Film Festival, under the Retrospective category at the Bangladesh National Museum. Runtime of the film is 92 minutes.