Wipro Campus Arena

  Caught this delightful piece of Iranian film (released in 2006) on disc and wasn’t disappointed at all. Once more am amazed at the simplicity of film making of some of the film makers we hardly hear or know about.

Directedand written by Jafar Panahi whose two films Dayereh and Talaye Sorkh were forbidden by the Islamic government of Iran. This time Jafar brings to you the comic tale of a group of young women who are football (soccer) fanatics and unfortunately for them the Islamic government has forbidden women from all sporting events. These young group of women dress up as men and try sneaking into the stadium and get caught, to be guarded by a young group of guards. They are keen to get a few glimpses of the Iran-Bahrain World cup qualifier and would do anything to get out of the guards eyes and mix with the crowd.

The story is simple and the director treats the movie as if he is a news crew covering an event and that’s what makes this movie a delightful watch. The cast is brilliant in being absolutely natural. There are quite a few hilarious scenes that are accentuated by just the expressions of the actors.The young guards guarding the women are amused on one hand and are restless to get on with work and share their tales with the prisoners There is this sequence where one of the girls asks to visit the toilet and a young guard is sent to escort her to the men’s toilet (no women’s toilets in the stadium you see) and she escapes, only to come back out of guilt Continue reading ‘Offside’