Last week we had made you aware of Chaitanya Tamhane’s Marathi language film ‘The Disciple’ being the only Indian movie to be included in the Rotten Tomatoes ‘Best Movies 2021’ list.
And recently, another Indian film that quietly managed to find a place in yet another international films list is Arati Kadav’s ‘Cargo’. The film made its way to a list of the best ‘space movies’ streaming on Netflix, collated by the globally renowned entertainment blog ‘Slashfilm’. You can find the link below.
‘Cargo’ is a science fiction film starring two genuinely fine performers and ‘Mirzapur’ co-stars Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi in the lead roles. The unique plot revolves around the protagonist demon called Prahastha who works for the Post Death Transition services aboard a spaceship assisted by a newly recruited female astronaut. Together, they recycle dead people for rebirth.
The fact that ‘Cargo’ is placed shoulder to shoulder alongside some venerable films like Alexandre Aja’s claustrophobic thriller ‘Oxygen’ and Paul Verhoeven’s cult sci-fi flick ‘Total Recall’ starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is no mean feat. Considering that ‘Cargo’ was made under tight budget constraints and shot in just 30 days (or probably because of that).
‘Cargo’ is the brainchild of Whistling Woods alumnus Arati Kadav, who had written, directed, and co-produced the film backed by Anurag Kashyap. While ‘Cargo’ is her feature film directorial debut, the talented filmmaker’s tryst with the science fiction genre is evident from her previous short film ‘Time Machine’ which deals with, of course, time travel.
The film premiered on the Netflix platform in September last year and did not go unnoticed even by reputed international entertainment publications. Variety had stated that “Kadav shows creativity and a gift for world-building in this unlikely sci-fi fable, which playfully reimagines reincarnation.” Similarly, IndieWire had observed: “While Cargo stumbles on plot, it excels at vision, and bodes well for the potential of a filmmaker capable of innovating within familiar restraint.”
After Chaitanya Tamhane’s intense musical drama ‘The Disciple’ and now Arati Kadav’s philosophical sci-fi ‘Cargo’, we hope that the trend of genuinely good Indian movies garnering global appreciation continues and more such Indian films populate such international listicles.