Moha

  • 103'
  • India
  • 2023

Santosh Sivan is a filmmaker celebrated in India and beyond for his free, lyrical style, and especially his skill as a cinematographer. His work bridges independent productions (Nine Emotions, IFFR 2006) and lush, epic musicals (Asoka, 2001).

In Moha, which has been described as his ‘passion project’, Sivan returns to a more artisanal and personal mode of cinema: the reinvention of myth in a timeless, poetic framework. The deliberately slender storyline involves a spiritual male hermit, a female nymph who tempts him into secular ways of the flesh, and a rival lover. But the true driving force of events – as the philosophically detached voice-over narration informs us – is the cosmic energy of Shakti, here embodied in an alluring, destructive sword.

An amalgam of Hindu mythology and the influence of Malick's The Tree of Life (2011), Moha is unafraid to explore gender stereotypes and universal themes of desire and power as it churns through the cycles of history. Sivan's style expresses itself in associative montages that link the characters to natural phenomena (almost the entire action is set outdoors), sweeping flourishes of the musical score, a choreographic approach to movement and gesture, and images that are never less than splendid.

 

Adrian Martin

  • 103'
  • India
  • 2023
Director
Santosh Sivan
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
India
Year
2023
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
103'
Medium
DCP
Language
Hindi
Producer
Santosh Sivan
Production Company
Santosh Sivan Productions
Sales
Santosh Sivan Productions
Screenplay
Santosh Sivan, Ajil SM
Cinematography
Santosh Sivan
Editor
Lawrence Kishor
Production Design
Madhusudan N
Sound Design
Vishnu PC, Arun S Mani
Music
Vipin Kumar PK
Cast
Jaaved Jaaferi, Shaylea Krishen
Director
Santosh Sivan
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
India
Year
2023
Festival Edition
IFFR 2023
Length
103'
Medium
DCP
Language
Hindi
Producer
Santosh Sivan
Production Company
Santosh Sivan Productions
Sales
Santosh Sivan Productions
Screenplay
Santosh Sivan, Ajil SM
Cinematography
Santosh Sivan
Editor
Lawrence Kishor
Production Design
Madhusudan N
Sound Design
Vishnu PC, Arun S Mani
Music
Vipin Kumar PK
Cast
Jaaved Jaaferi, Shaylea Krishen