III Smoking Barrels is the first ever film I have seen which is set in North East India. And I am yet to see another film which is set in that region. III Smoking Barrels ( I will call it III SB) is a film which will be remembered for many reasons. It's a pioneer in many ways - I have not seen any other Indian film with so many languages & multi-cultural portrayal, I don't know any other Indian film which talks about child soldiers, I don't remember a full death metal gig in any other Indian film, I don't know an Indian film with songs in 4 languages, I haven't seen a film where the "THE END" card appears just before the intermission etc etc. III SB is a raw and wild film - very realistic yet stylish. The film has many layers. Fortunately I have visited NorthEast India in 2012 and I read couple of books on the region so I could see the subtle layers. Though its a crime drama, it deals with many other aspects of life for instance just before Donnie is going to get killed , he tells his mother that he doesn't know when he gonna come back home. In the third story, Mukhtar & Ikram are rural Moslems but they were not shown wearing a skull cap until they are in real trouble. That's a typical nature of we human, we turn towards God when we are in real trouble. But these things are shown in such a subtle way. I couldn't notice them in my first watch though. I think the script is the hero of the film. It is a very simple script but very unique. . Actors are all superb specially Subrat Dutt. I think he deserved a National Award. I quite like the sound of the film too, specially in the 3rd story - jungle becomes live with the ambience sound. One think though I didn't understand in the film is why did the director & the cinematographer decided to show the jungle not so green. Northeast is so green otherwise. I don't normally like anthology films but this film seems to strike a cord. A cult in making for sure.
