Neecha Nagar
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
This review is a part of the Palme d’Or Project: a review of every single Palme d’Or winner at Cannes Film Festival. This is a Grand Prix winner: what the Palme d’Or was originally called before 1955. Neecha Nagar won for the 1946 festival and was tied with ten other films.
The film was selected by the following jury.
Jury President: Georges Huisman.
Jury: Iris Barry, Beaulieu, Antonin Brousil, J.H.J. De Jong, Don Tudor, Samuel Findlater, Sergei Gerasimov, Jan Korngold, Domingos Mascarenhas, Hugo Mauerhofer, Filippo Mennini, Moltke-Hansen, Fernand Rigot, Kjell Stromberg, Rodolfo Usigli, Youssef Wahby, Helge Wamberg.
Believe it or not, India has never won another Palme d'Or since this preliminary win for Neecha Nagar, even when including all of the masterpieces the nation has to offer. I feel like these nearly eighty years since mean that we are long overdue, but we will see which way Cannes decides to go. For now, let's look at this lone winner. Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar is India's answer to Italy's neorealist movement, meant to connect audiences with real societal concerns and evoke strong responses. It is loosely based on Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths: an observation of classes within society and the discrepancies between citizens. While this is an Anand film, this also is a cause for celebration regarding writer Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, whose narrative focuses would change Indian cinema time and time again; this was only just one notable instance.
Neecha Nagar is a highly interpersonal affair in a much needed way: awareness. While there is a story here, there is also attention drawn to the distress within rural India that could clearly be seen whilst viewing. Landlord Sarkar oversees his property and the struggling souls beneath him, and the majority of the other characters serve as perspectives of poverty and/or inequality. The film boasts a naturalistic approach to these topics: a filmic essay disguised as a narrative. The artistry of Neecha Nagar is present as well, with emotionally stirring images set to sitar melodies: both evoking a love-hate relationship with a motherland that one loves but feels neglected by.
Neecha Nagar uses multiple voices on systemic imbalance to paint a picture of class struggles with the utmost sincerity.
While not one of the more memorable films of Indian cinema (except for maybe its era, due to its influence and importance), Neecha Nagar is a crucial film historically: a delicate issue painted boldly for the festival of festivals (and the world) to bear witness to. Unlike other lavish films, Neecha Nagar went the ways of purity to convey something more important than entertainment: real desperation. The film takes a figurative approach by placing societal classes within actual levels of civilization, and these are the moments where Neecha Nagar excels the most. The personal stories don't quite take advantage of the film's various niches, but they're respectable at least. This may have hit harder upon release than it would now, but Neecha Nagar is somewhat of a discussion-based time capsule: a crucial issue needing to be discussed (and still needing to be heard).
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.