The Fable Movie Review — Berlinale 2024 — Sucharita Tyagi
Things these days, especially in the media you consume constantly, are very cut and dry. “5 ways to do this.” “3 things you should never say.” “35 Amazon products I found that you need in your kitchen.”
The film I’m going to talk about now counters this in the most wonderful way. Here is a story of people who may or may not have existed, in a town that definitely feels real. Make of this what you will; the film exists for you to interpret it.
Saal hai 1989, setting hai Himalayas mein Naldera ya Mussoories jaise ek shehar joh agar aap North India se ho, bachpan ki summer holidays mein dekh hoga kabhi. In the first shot, you meet Dev. Before you see him, over a black screen, you hear him brush his teeth. Raam Reddy wants you to feel Dev’s presence before being allowed to visualize it. As the visuals fade in, you see Dev put moisturizer on his shoulders, which seems like a quirk at first, but by the time this one-take long, elaborate scene, with Dev moving out of the bathroom, into the house, out of the house, into his workshop and out in the fields as the camera mostly follows him, is complete, something so outrageous has occurred that the act of putting moisturizer on his shoulders takes on a whole new meaning.
Raam Reddy, who has also written the film, then opens up this world that is real and relatable, and yet strange and magical. Dev and his wife Nandini live in a palatial home in the hills with their young son Juju. Their daughter Vanya is away for school, but it’s chhutti time and she’s home. It seems to be a regular rich family; Dev has inherited acres and acres of land from his ancestors who, we are told upfront, were given the orchards by the British for their loyalty. Raam wants you to like this family, where everyone talks politely and is well-mannered and “cultured”, but also is telling you a little bit as he goes along, not to entirely trust them, especially the patriarch Dev. Dev has spent his whole life caught up with doing things he is supposed to do, and do them right, but right as the film opens, and the first tree burns down in the orchard shortly after, Dev’s lack of an adequate reaction to the occurrence is ominous and scary. This here is a man finally faced with strife, having to deal with something he is not equipped to deal with. Nothing in his life has prepared him or taught him to face a challenge; there is no way to predict how he’s going to operate now. The film emphasizes Dev’s unpredictable nature over and over until it reaches a breaking point. Until the issue facing him suddenly becomes so huge, the man now backed into a corner makes a series of bad decisions. Manoj Bajpayee, goes without saying, is excellent in the part. It’s a joy to see an actor like him deliver Joram, Killer Soup, and now The Fable in such proximity, and yet performances as different from each other as can be.
Dev’s wife Nandini knows not to shake things up either. When asked to sing, she sings. When asked to cook, she cooks. When asked to pack up the house and move, she does. It’s not so much submissive as it is compliant because she shares Dev’s secret. Played by Priyanka Bose, Nandini, whose name too has a sense of divinity to it, has a beautiful singing voice, almost as if she longs to go back to a long-forgotten home.
The story is narrated in voice-over by Deepak Dobriyal’s Mohan, the estate manager. Loyal to a fault, Mohan, whose name ALSO is godly, is subservient. As wonderful as it is to see Deepak Dobriyal do ANYTHING on screen, it’s extra gratifying to see him perform the hell out of a dramatic role, which requires him to tone down the theatrics like you’ve scarcely ever seen the actor do before. In a memorable scene, Dev asks Mohan to lock the door behind him when he leaves, and the one look of heartbreak mixed with derision that crosses Deepak Dobriyal’s face defines the film for me. Like Dev, Mohan too only realizes his life has more meaning than what he’s simply been doing, when things go wrong. You hear him say that it’s been 35 years since the incidents of this story, and it almost sounds like after leaving the orchards, Mohan decided to write a book and is now reading chapters from it in a cozy, warm bookstore, over a crackling fire, at a launch event.
There are things in The Fable that might leave you scratching your head, some unanswered questions, a sub-plot about wandering monks leaves something to be desired, and a climactic scene involving a handycam felt similarly out of place. According to Raam Reddy, his film is entirely up for interpretation, and some of it he himself doesn’t quite understand either, like stories we heard of weird and magical people who lived in faraway mountains. He’s shot the movie on film which doesn’t only give a more real-world feeling but also makes it more tangible. The experiment is successful, you’re entranced and the magic realism din front of your eyes becomes your truth as well. Things slow down, and as the screen flickers and you see flecks dance on and dart across the frames, you’re in 1989. The theatre you’re in doesn’t exist, the person sitting next to you vanishes, and fireflies escape the screen around Dev, encircling you instead.
Is the film an allegory for colonial rule, reminding its viewers that all empires will catch on fire and fall one day? Is it a cautionary tale about human greed? Is it an environmental fable asking us to go back and become more one with nature? There is also incisive commentary on authoritarianism, and what happens when power becomes too consolidated in one place. Or is it just a playground of cinematographer Sunil Borkar to create a stunning and mysterious game-like interface for us to interact with?
Hopefully, you’ll get to watch it soon and decide!
