Comic Fingers – Review

Hello everyone Kevin with Film Fervor here again to bring you the latest Independent film review. Today we are doing something a little different and are reviewing the  film Comic Fingers by Director Aneek Chaudhuri. Comic Fingers is a Documentary of KV Gautam the famous Indian political Cartoonist and motivational speaker.

The film itself is about KV Gautam’s beginnings in the field of Political cartoon drawing and how it was received by the government of India leading to his near imprisonment due to the controversial nature of his works as well as the oppression of female cartoonist in a male dominated society. While the film tries to bring to light these serious issues in India with black and white news reels and reports the director’s choice to use experimental camera angles, lighting and random a soundtrack often jar you from the otherwise compelling story of Gautam’s life and message. One of the biggest issues however is the fact that the interviewees are often speaking in Hindi and have very little if any subtitles for Western audiences making it difficult to follow along with the story at times.

The Cinematography is very well done using sophisticated equipment and a hidden homage to the Indian flag using the three colors of the flag at different parts of the film. The addition of actual new reels and videos of Al-Quada often help emphasize key points Gautam is trying to make. The one criticism I had during it was often the camera would fade out of focus at odd times or drift off of Gautam as he spoke making it difficult to hear him in places.

Which brings us to the sound itself. The Soundtrack to Comic Fingers is very strange and not really fitting of a Documentary using a random mix of classical music as well as modern contemporary in random places that brings either unnecessary drama to an uplifting speech or a jovial tone to as story of gang rape it left me more confused than engaged with the scene. The Interviewees also often were sitting with their face away from directly looking at the cameras which left them feeling muted and seem to be speaking from far away, however when the people faced directly at the cameras the audio quality was top notch.

If you are interested in how Indian politicians feel about Political cartoonists in their country or are just a fan of world renowned cartoonist and motivational speaker KV Gautam then this two hour strange trip into his life and his friends might be for you. Be warned however there are several graphic scenes of actual murders and explosions littered throughout the film and this subject matter may offend delicate persons.