India @ Oscars: 10 things you need to know about 'Liar's Dice'

The Story

Liar’s Dice is a movie about migrant labourers and their exploitation. The film starring Nawauddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa speaks about the human cost of migration to cities and tells the story of a young mother who lives in a remote village. She is in trauma after her husband goes missing after having gone in search of work many moons ago. She sets off in his search, like how the premise of Vidya Balan’s Kahaani was.

The Director

The director of the film Liar’s Dice Geetu Mohandas was an actress earlier and ibn fact she began her career in films as a child artiste in the film Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare. She later acted in many more movies in Tamil as well as Malayalam before she decided to turn filmmaker one day. Geetu initially made a short film called Kelkkunndo six years ago.

The Cinematographer

Geetu Mohandas is married to cinematographer Rajeev Ravi. In fact Rajeev who shot Liar’s Dice also managed to win the Best Cinematographer award at the 61st National Film Awards. Rajeev is currently shooting the Ranbir Kapoor starrer Bombay Velvet being directed by Anurag Kashyap.

Awards and accolades

Liar’s Dice had a world premiere last year in 2013 at the Mumbai Film Festival. It was in the Indian competition section. Later on the film went on to be screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival followed by the International Film Festival at Rotterdam. Later on the film also managed to win a special jury award at the Sofia International Film Festival.

The Dialogues

There were no dialogues in the screenplay when the film was written. It was revised along the way after the actors came on board and during the shooting as well.

The Actress

Geetanjali Thapa the heroine of the film has done a fabulous job as an actress in the film. In her first big endeavour the actress managed to stun the critics and the jury at the National Awards as well. She won the best Actress Award at the 61st National Film Awards in India. Geetanjali quickly got cast opposite Emraan Hashmi in Oscar Winner Danic Tanovic’s film Tigers. Danis had won the Oscar for his film No Man’s Land which had beaten Lagaan. Geetanjali’s name was also being toplined for the role of Mary Kom because she came from North East India in Sikkim, but the film went to Priyanka Chopra. Incidentally Liar’s Dice beat Mary Kom in the race for the Oscars.

The Producers

The film has been produced by Jar Pictures along with Geetu and her husband Rajeev’s company Unplugged.

But the truth is that Geetu and her husband were knocking on many doors, trying to raise funds to make the film. But no one was ready to back the film despite having liked the film and the subject, because they did not understand how the film can make money. Then Jar Pictures came and took over.

The Hero

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has played the lead role in the film of a conman who is an army deserter. He plays a game of dice to trick and con people. He becomes the savior for the heroine Kamala and her daughter and helps her albeit in exchange for her gold bangle.

Nawaz’s performance in the film has also been lauded though it did not translate in the form of awards.

The Oscar Run

Lair’s Dice had to fight its way to the Oscar from India after being one of the 30 films in contention for the said honour.

Liar’s Dice rolled out Rajnikanth’s Kochadaiyaan apart from Rani Mukherji’s Mardaani, Hansal Mehta’s Shahid, the acclaimed Filmistaan, Kangna Ranaut’s epochal Queen and Priyanka Chopra’s Mary Kom. The Polish film Ida, The Swedish movie Force Majeure and the Canadian offering Mommy will compete with Liar’s Dice at the Oscars. But then with no monies for promotion and lobbying, it seems like a tough race ahead for the film.

The Release

Unfortunately, Liar’s Dice has still not been able to release in the theatres in India yet. Films require a substantial amount of money for publicity and promotion these days that the makers have not been able to cough up the money or find benevolent film corporate companies to come ahead and release the film. Here’s hoping that the film can release now after being sent to the Oscars.

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