Chalanggai

Film Info

Original Title: CHALANGGAI

English Title: Dancing Bells

Country: Malaysia

Genre: Family Drama

Duration 98 Minutes 33 Seconds

Language: Tamil, Malay, Mandarin, and English

Subtitles: English subtitles

Year of Release: 2007

Deepak Menon Credits
Co-Producer
Original Story
Co-Writer
Screenplay
Director
Editor

Main Cast Credits
Ramesh Kumar
Kala Sundraju
Dhaarshini Sankran

Production & Distribution Credits
One Hundred Eye & MyFoto Studio

Synopsis
Uma lives with her mother, Muniammah, and elder brother Siva, in a soon to be demolished neighborhood secluded in the backyards of the rapidly developing Brickfields township. The occupants of the town are strictly addicted to a daily routine. Just another routine addict, Muniammah owns a small make shift stall knitting and selling jasmine flower garlands to support her family needs.

Raja, Uma’s father neglected the family after severe disagreements with Muniammah. Since. Muniammah has single handedly cared for her children’s needs. Siva, a seventeen-year-old school drop out works as a car wash attendant. The demanding city life and the lost of a father figure affect the family deeply. This gives constant pressure to Siva as he turns to secretly hate his father even more.

The estranged Raja regrets his past and attempts to return home. The family is torn between emotions, as they feel even more vulnerable. A string of mishaps fall upon the family and they are forced to confront the many realities that lay ahead of them.

Muniammah turns to her flower knitting routine to hide her feelings. Siva shoulders his burden in silence to deal with his lost. As for Uma, she dreams of pursuing her interest in dance.

Director's Note
Dancing Bells (Chalanggai) is an extension of the director’s previous work, The Gravel Road (Chemman Chaalai). The Gravel Road portrayed some of the conditions of the rural Malaysian Indians occupying the rubber estate in the late 1960’s.

Dancing Bells is a community film of family, hope and dreams that portrays some of the social, cultural and economic conditions of urban living Malaysian Indians in the present time Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The film shall look into the aspects of urban living social issues of the ethnic Indians such as education suppression, unemployment, dysfunctional family values as well as racial segregation that most Malaysian Indians encounter in their daily lives.

Dancing Bells is a story that shall be explored with subtle treatment.

Awards & Nominations
Special Mention Best Asian-Middle Eastern Award, 20th Tokyo Int, Film Fest. 
Best Digital Film Award, 20th Festival Filem Malaysia
NETPAC Best Film, 9th Osian’s Cinefan Int. Film Festival, India
NETPAC Special Mention, 36th Int. Film Festival Rotterdam
Script Development Fund, Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam
Seed Grant, All Roads Film Project, National Geographic Society
In Competition, Bangkok Int. Film Festival

Malaysian Screenings / Publications
Art Talk, University Sarawak Malaysia
The 6th International Malaysian Studies Conference, Kuching, Sarawak
ASTRO Vellithirai
20th Malaysian Film Festival, USM Penang, Malaysia
Golden Screen Cinemas, International Screens, Kuala Lumpur & Penang
8th University Science Malaysia Film Festival, Penang, Malaysia

International Screenings / Publications
37th Festival International Du Film De La Rochelle
Jakarta Int. Film Festival, Indonesia
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
20th Tokyo Int. Film Fest, Japan
12th Pusan Int. Film Fest, Korea
17th Fukuoka Int. Film Fest, Japan
Rio De Janeiro Int. Film Fest, Brazil
30th Asian American Int. Film Fest, US
9th Osian’s Cinefan Fest of Asian & Arab Cinema, India
5th Bangkok Int. Film Fest
Asia House London, UK
28th Durban Int. Film Fest, South Africa
Back Lot Int. Film Fest
31st Hong Kong Int. Film Fest, Hong Kong
36th Rotterdam Int. Film Fest, The Netherlands

Appraisal

"Appealing leads and a nicely honed feel for family relationships characterize "Dancing Bells," helmer Deepak Kumaran Menon's follow-up to "The Gravel Road," also set in Malaysia's Tamil community. Current pic uses the aspirations of a young girl from a broken home to comment on minorities coping with urban marginalization, but Menon's approach is far from polemical, and his narrative skills often too piecemeal to create a lasting impression."

"Just as in his first film, Menon draws a beautifully realistic and detailed portrait of a family that has to survive and above all has to maintain its dignity. The film was shot entirely on location in Brickfield and the cast is made up of local amateurs. This makes Dancing Bells not only authentic, but also emotional. These are real feelings of real people portrayed in a realistic way." – Gertjan Zuilhof, Film Programmer, International Film Festival Rotterdam

"Appealing leads and a nicely honed feel for family relationships characterize "Dancing Bells," helmer Deepak Kumaran Menon's follow-up to "The Gravel Road," also set in Malaysia's Tamil community. Current pic uses the aspirations of a young girl from a broken home to comment on minorities coping with urban marginalization, but Menon's approach is far from polemical, and his narrative skills often too piecemeal to create a lasting impression." – Jay Weissberg, Variety.com

“One of Asia's largest cities, Kuala Lumpur exhibits growing pains as it pushes outward, consuming once undesirable neighborhoods through gentrification. This insightful look at how one Tamil family copes with the impending doom of urbanization beautifully captures the rhythms and sounds of daily life. Without a trace of sentimentality, the film gets under the skin of the individual family members, organically unfolding their personal dreams and struggles for a better life.”  - The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

"Above all, I appreciate the film for being situated in a very Malaysian locality, and filling it with real life-size characters. I'm particularly concerned (and very disturbed) about this issue, coz there are doubters who would question whether such films can be categorized as Malaysian, coz they deal specifically with a certain community. I think your film has helped to provide a clear answer to rebut those kinds of criticism. Works like Menon’s challenge misconceptions/preconceptions, push boundaries and give meaning to the New Malaysian Cinema. – Wong Tuck Cheong, President Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia

"Deepak Kumaran Menon is a very sensitive, talented and professional film director whose work is highly focused. His work is not commercially driven but expresses the desire to communicate a more serious content that appeals to our enquiring mind and sensitive nature. Deepak’s intense portraits of Malaysian lives, particularly of Indian families living on the edge of society, are not politically motivated but simply insights of life as it is. In Deepak’s film we identify with his protagonists. We empathise with the emotional turmoil experienced by his protagonists as they wrestle with the impact of urban living, lack of opportunities and education, as well as a clash of gender as a result of traditional type-casting and upbringing. The latter often results in the subsequent empowerment of women and the rise of his heroes or heroine above his or her harsh environment. Essentially, Deepak gives us a glimpse of how humanity copes with life and its challenges. Deepak gives an insightful perspective of multi-racial life in Malaysia." – Tuan Ramli Ibrahim, Dancer, Guru and Artistic Director of Sutra Foundation

"Menon's beautifully naturalistic second feature was shot entirely on location with a cast of neighborhood amateurs, and reveals a minority community under stress in the shadows of developing Malaysia. – Jacob Wong, Film Curator, Hong Kong International Film Festival

Contact

DEEPAK KUMARAN MENON
Email: deepak.kumaran.menon@gmail.com
Blog: deepakmenon888.blogspot.com