''Pattiyude Divasam'' (( ml, പട്ടിയുടെ ദിവസം), (alternate title - A Dog's Day)) is a 2001 Indian political satire film directed by
Murali Nair
Murali Nair (born 10 January 1966) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He has directed eight films since 1993. His film '' Marana Simhasanam'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival where it won ...
.
Plot
A local ruler bows down to the pressure from democratic forces and is forced to hand over a part of his province to a democratically elected leader. He also presents his pet dog to a poor peasant and his wife. For the poor peasant and his wife, the dog is not a mere dog, but a symbol of the royalty which had always inspired in them feelings of respect, admiration and blind worship. They bathe the dog in a very ceremonious manner and take much care of it. They even desist from tying it up. But when the dog bites and kills a duck and then a boy, it leads to problems. The democratic leader orders the arrest of the dog, followed by the arrest of the poor peasant. Then follow protests, talks, negotiations leading to more interesting developments.
Cast
*
K. Krishna Kaimal as The Lord
*
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
as Koran
*
Lakshmi Raman as Koran's Wife
*
Suhas Thayat as Democratic Leader
*
Vinu Prasad
Release
It was screened in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section at the
2001 Cannes Film Festival
The 54th Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 20 May 2001. Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Italian film ''The Son's Room'' by Nanni Moretti.
The festival opened with '' ...
.
It was also screened at the
2001 Toronto International Film Festival
The 26th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 6 to September 15, 2001. There were 326 films (249 feature films, 77 short films) from 54 countries scheduled to be screened during the ten-day festival. During a hastily arranged pres ...
and the 2001
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
.
Critical reception
The film met with critical praise. Unni R. Nair of the ''Screen'' magazine commented, "The film, shot in a totally rural background in Kuttanad, represents on a microscopic scale the state of affairs all over the world in the present day. Political developments, coup attempts, meaningless peace-talks and accords, third-party mediation - everything is taken up for discussion, of course, on a miniature level. And the film becomes a really thought-provoking, brilliant social and political satire. A highlight of the film is that it has got very good quality spot recording that renders it an air of naturality."
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, id=0286887, title=A Dog's Day
2001 films
2001 comedy films
2000s Malayalam-language films
Films directed by Murali Nair
Indian satirical films