Debutant director Karan Gour tells Shelly Walia what it takes to make an indie film on a shoestring budget
IIn India, films are treated as Coca-Cola bottles — commodities that you consume purely for pleasure or entertainment. So, a film studio may not be ready to even spend one-twentieth of a Singham or a Rowdy Rathore’s budget on a no-frills, serious and meaningful feature film,” says first-time director and writer Karan Gour of yesterday’s release, Kshay. A psychological drama, Kshay, has made it large globally, but yet to make a mark in India. The movie has been released by PVR Cinemas in Mumbai and New Delhi.
For this low-budget indie film, the international claim-to-fame started with Gour winning the new director’s competition at the Chicago International Film Festival, 2011. This was followed by an official selection at the Dubai International Film Festival (2011), the best director at South Asian International Film Festival (2011), New York and the grand jury prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (2012).
But, finishing this film has been far from a joyride. To make an independent film on a shoestring needs dogged perseverance, says Gour. The film took four years to be completed and was shot by a two-member crew. “It did get frustrating but I deliberately chose to steer clear of film studios. There were financial constraints, but it also gave me the liberty to not have a set deadline,” he says.
Making this 96-minute black-and-white film has been nothing less than an obsession — the theme Gour set to explore while penning down its script four years ago. Kshay is a story of a lower middle class housewife Chhaya (Rasika Dugal), who gets obsessive about possessing a sculpture of goddess Lakshmi. “It is not faith and I am not making any religious statement. It is sheer obsession that I wanted to personify. I have used idol worship as a mere symbol. In fact, the Lakshmi statue is only shown in parts thrice,” explains Gour.
The movie delves deeper into the reality of obsession as the protagonist loses significant things for something trivial. “I could manifest the psychological horror of obsession better, if I set my story in the lower rungs of society. Moreover, it was easy to create the setting of a lower middle class housewife on limited finances,” says Gour.
But, why make it in black and white? “To curtail our expenses, black and white should have been an obvious choice.The dark and grainy look, suits the aesthetics of the film, too; it lifts the psychological mood of the film.” As the protagonist always thinks in black and white, it helped Gour to experiment with dark, disturbing elements, he adds. “I would have messed up the film had I got access to more money than what I had,” Gour chuckles.
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He isn’t worried about completing the film in four years. American filmmaker David Lynch’s first movie Eraserhead took five years. “This reassures my belief that a filmmaker is like a carpenter, carving things out of his own hands,” he adds.
Since the age of 16-17, Gour knew his calling was filmmaking. A graduate in IT and a post-graduate diploma in sound engineering, he has started working on his next.