Badnam Basti
(Badnam Basti)

When searching for the copy of a film by Raj Kapoor, the Arsenal Berlin came across a print of Prem Kapoor’s Badnam Basti. The only point in common was the surname. No element of this film had been conserved in India, where it had fallen into the depths of oblivion since its 1971 release. Rated A (adult only) at the time and doomed to failure, it was even obliterated from Indian film encyclopaedias. Adapted from a pioneering novel by Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena, Badnam Basti has now resurfaced to remind us of its modernity and, true to the original, of the radicality with which it portrays the firm hold of social norms over a love triangle, where feminine desire, sexual exploitation and homosexuality are intertwined. Jérôme Baron