Non-Fiction | 70min | Digital | 16:9 | 2017
Lured by the chance of being the protagonist of a documentary film, Buddha Dev, a 27 year old flamboyant cricketer from Goa, starts authorising unrestricted access into the most private parts of his life.
FESTIVALS
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2017- First Features Competition
Ann Arbor Film Festival 2018- Features Competition
Mumbai Film Festival 2018 – Spotlight
Documenta Madrid 2018- Fugas Feature Film Competition
Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, USA – International Competition
New Cinema/ New Talents
AWARDS
Jury Special Mention- Mammoth Lakes FF, California
NFDC Film Bazaar Award- Film Bazaar, India
FESTIVAL CITATIONS
“Indian auteur Ashim Ahluwalia’s protégée and frontrunner of a new wave of Indian filmmakers, Kabir Mehta moves into long-form storytelling after the international success of his short film “Sadhu in Bombay”, which had its North American premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival. The Mumbai based director impresses with his vanguardism in a debut that is hard to label or classify.
Documentary turned fiction turned cross media project turned social experiment, ‘BUDDHA.mov’ follows the life of Buddhadev Mangaldas, a cocksure 29 years old cricketer who plays for Goa. What initially seems to be a classical unidirectional observational documentary of a successful sportsman, quickly shifts into a more interactive piece when the cheerful and at times gullible protagonist of the film begins to linger with the camera, increasingly giving in to his hedonistic ego and in doing so unveiling the most private parts of his eccentric life and multi-layered personality. Nevertheless the film never takes a critical stand as the director is more interested in studying how the subject interacts with the perception of his own identity and the actions and measures the cricketer takes to match his imagery.” Giampietro Balia (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival)
“In Buddha.mov Kabir Mehta’s direction breaks boundaries that test our emotions about hypermasculinity centered on a cricket baller from Goa. Kabir, you’re a creative risk taker, clearly a bit mad and definitely someone to watch” Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2018 Jury: Allison Amon, Lindsey Bahr and Peter Baxter
