Paanch

The first film Anurag Kashyap directed, which never reached cinemas. A five-piece rock band lives in Pune. The band is going nowhere, there is no money and all of them use drugs. Luke, the leader, controls the others; angry, manipulative and answerable to nobody. To get money they make a plan: fake the kidnapping of one of their own and take a ransom from his family. The plan breaks at the first step and the group finds itself inside a murder. What follows is five people who do not trust each other coming apart. Luke holds them together by threat and every new move makes things worse. The narrative was inspired by a series of murders that took place in India in the 1980s. The film never opened because the censor board would not approve it. The stated grounds were how violence and drug use were presented. Copies circulated hand to hand over the years and it became a cult item. Kay Kay Menon plays Luke. Anurag Kashyap directed; the first form of the style he later became known for is here. A historically important production for anyone who likes Indian independent cinema and dark crime storytelling. Before you watch, know this: the film leaves sympathy with none of its characters, and the copies in circulation are not of good technical quality.