Ship of Theseus (2012)

Explores questions of identity, justice, beauty, meaning and death through an experimental photographer, an ailing monk and a young stockbroker.

Director:

Anand Gandhi

Writers:

Anand Gandhi, Anand Gandhi (story),

Stars:

Aida Elkashef, Yogesh Shah, Faraz Khan

11 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aida Elkashef	...	Aliya (as Aida El-Kashef)
Yogesh Shah	...	Doctor (as Dr. Yogesh Shah)
Faraz Khan	...	Vinay
Hannan Youssef	...	Aliya's mother
Narendra Shah	...	'Uncle'
Chitra Shah	...	Lady in the house
Manan Shah	...	Kid in the house
Aishwarya	...	Girl with the blindfold
Balaji Janardhan	...	Blind & deaf people at the gallery
Abbas K.	...	Blind & deaf people at the gallery
Bharat Pardesi	...	Blind & deaf people at the gallery
Pradeep Sinha	...	Blind & deaf people at the gallery
Akhtar Bhale	...	Blind & deaf people at the gallery
Sidharth Meer	...	Art enthusiast 1
Bonnie Chenevier	...	Art enthusiast 2

Storyline

If the parts of a ship are replaced, bit-by-bit, is it still the same ship? A celebrated experimental photographer struggles with the loss of her intuitive genius as an unexpected aftermath of a physical change; an intellectual monk confronting a complex ethical dilemma with a long held ideology, has to choose between principle and death; and a young stockbroker, following the trail of a stolen kidney, learns how intricate morality could be. These disparate characters manifest philosophical dilemmas in their personal lives, but their narratives converge to reveal an even larger fabric of connections, meaning, beauty, existence and death in a delicately poetic finale.

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Plot Keywords:

death | photographer | organ theft | organ donation | monastery | 

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Taglines:

How do you know where you end and where your environment begins?

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

India Netherlands

Language:

English Arabic Swedish Hindi

Release Date:

19 July 2013 (India)

Filming Locations:

Himachal Pradesh, India

Box Office

Budget:

INR 12,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Recyclewala Films, Fortissimo Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title of the film, 'Ship of Theseus' alludes to the highly debated Theseus' paradox (also referred to as the Ship of Theseus). The paradox engages in the idea of identity: "If parts of an object are replaced with similar parts, does it remain the same?" Thus this concept is applied to human beings psychologically, ideologically and physically throughout the film.

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Quotes

Aaliya Kamal: A frog once asked a centipede how is it able to walk on a hundred feet, so gracefully synchronized while the frog finds it difficult to manage even two. The centipede took a moment to analyze its own walk and was baffled. So as it tried to walk further its feet got entangled and it tripped.

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Soundtracks

Naham Janami
Composed by: Rohit Sharma
Written by: Anand Gandhi
Translated in Prakrit by: Chandrasen

User Reviews

Sheer delight to watch. A world cinema masterpiece, almost!

Ship of Theseus is a movie which we need but didn't really deserve right now. A lot of things have already been said about it, so with the risk of sounding repetitive, however I'll try not to be so, here are some of my thoughts: 1. To begin with, Anand Gandhi has made an utterly brilliant movie. The honesty, genuineness, and intent of the director is clear from the word go which is a sheer pleasure to see in an Indian filmmaker.

2. Three stories - totally different to each others in terms of mood and narration, yet so well transitioned that you don't even notice it. Two thumbs up for the screenplay and editing.

3. Utterly brilliant cinematography, a visual delight which mesmerizes you and grips you with every scene and its details that is on the screen. After I exited the theater, I couldn't believe I watched an Indian movie looking so beautiful. In fact, I can go on and on about the imagery. Well done! 4. Superb dialogues (and the use of no dialogues) - At times, zen, and other times, so passionate that you feel like talking to your alter ego, just like, the conversations in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Even the humorous and satirical parts don't make you feel like they are used as punches, except a couple times maybe.

5. Acting - Top notch by the all three protagonists. Relatively good performance by the other actors as well. But the three main actors are so good you long to see more of them. And the sympathies and your connections with them find their peaks in the penultimate scene.

6. Only thing where I felt I had issue is that some scenes and conversations were finished in a hurry. While one talk about something so powerful in detail, it should be a complete conversation, whereas, at times, it appears a lot of important things were skipped (esp. in story #2). Though I didn't find too many things wrong with the conversations in story 2 and narrations in story 2 and 3, it looked to me that something was amiss, they could have talked a little more, and so on. The movie could have been even more powerful, given the premise and ideas it began with. Actually, the idea is itself so big and extensive that any less would feel like incomplete. Such as, writing about this movie in 140 characters. But I guess I shouldn't complain as it's a movie where it's very difficult to have such kind of narration as well as a speech as long as that of John Galt. Anyways, I am more than glad that such things were talked about in a movie made in India.

Bravo, Anand Gandhi and the team! I stood and clapped for you all when the movie ended in the theater.