In relationship with Maximum City

Young and articulate, Daria Gai, a filmmaker from Ukraine whose film Teen Aur Adha was shown at the Habitat Film Festival, believes that there cannot be a settled objective view of a city. Her film, which has three-and-a-half long takes, tells the story of one house in the middle of Mumbai which was a school years ago, then reduces to a brothel and lastly becomes the home for an extraordinary couple. “The story is told from the point of view of the walls which have seen lives of many people coming and going,” says Daria who was in the Capital for the screening.

Excerpts:

How did the title come into being?

We wanted to change the name after we completed the film as it was a working title. Apart from it, Sadhe Teen was the only option as it was more grammatically correct but we came back to Teen Aur Adha because it was interesting and was giving the idea of separation between three stories and the half story.

What brought you to India?

I was doing my bachelor degree in Philosophy in Ukraine and I was very close to theatre and art scene in the country. I decided to take a break between my bachelors and masters degrees, and during that period the Scindia School in Gwalior called me to teach theatre . Later, I took a short course in screen-writing from Whistling Woods, and they invited me to teach creative writing and film appreciation.

What prompted you to make a film here?

I wrote a couple of short films and I was working on advertising films in India. I shot a short film, and Avni Rai, the daughter of Raghu Rai, liked the film and asked me to show it to Anurag Kashyap. He really liked the film and asked me to develop it into a full-fledged feature film and that became the second part of Teen Aur Adha. The composer for the film is a known Ukrainian musician and for the background score, folk music of Ukraine was played on Indian instruments.

Coming from a different culture, how difficult was it to understand the milieu of Mumbai?

I love and hate Mumbai. I did not know anything about the city and in my process to understand it, I wanted to merge with the culture but at the same time wanted to keep a distance where I can be myself. Just like the objective view of a person changes with the change in a relationship, the relationship with the city also develops and you tend to see something new each time. There is no particular objective view to see things.

Did the experience in theatre translate into cinema?

Because the film was happening in real-time without any cuts, it was more like a play happening as we were inside the house and there were not many actors in the frame. We rehearsed the script as a theatre play thousands of times.

How was the experience of working with actors in India?

My idea of acting has changed here. In Ukraine, to be an actor, you have to study for five years but here people learn to dance, go to the gym and learn horse riding if they want to become an actor. This is really interesting. Here actors are not ready to give dates for workshops and that is a very difficult part. I was fortunate to have Jim Sarbh and Zoya Hussain who gave me months to do workshops. In fact, Anurag found Zoya Hussain from my short film.

Who are your inspirations?

People who have pioneered their own styles in theatre are more interesting, such as (Jerzy) Grotowski. And different forms like physical theatre or theatre of movement or emotional theatre. It teaches me how to break an actor. For example, I have cast a real driver for my next film. He has never acted and doesn’t know anything about cinema. You devise your own techniques for them and the combination of different techniques helps you a lot.

Documenting the master

Known for his thematic concerns, socio-political narratives and visual styles in films such as Swapnadanam, Adaminte Vaariyellu and Irakal, K. G. George’s cinema appeals to the rational mind. The nine-time winner of the Kerala State Film Awards effectively used technology and form to present his content. As a part of the retrospective to the master at the Habitat Film Festival, 8½ Intercuts: Life And Films of KG George, a documentary directed by Lijin Jose and Shahina K Rafiq, was screened. In an e-mail interaction, Lijin Jose talks about making a film on the master's life.

What sort of challenges did you face while researching for the film?

The research part decides the approach toward the subject. It was my friend Shahina K Rafiq (the co-director of the documentary) who came up with the idea during one of our casual conversations. She was actually planning to write a book on KG George and had done in-depth research on George sir and his films. One of the main challenges was access to his films. Some of his very important films are now not available in any format. The unconditional support from his wife Selma George and his colleagues helped a lot. George sir is a no-nonsense person and we had heard stories of him saying no to people who had approached him previously with the idea of a documentary on him. When we met George sir for the first time, we had a decent amount of research material with us. It helped in convincing him how serious we were about this project.

Can you share your process of selection of the archives?

We never wanted to compromise on quality. Most of the interviews in the film were shot in 4K resolution and we wanted to do the mastering in 2K. The major challenge was procuring the film footage from the film prints matching this quality. The DVDs out in circulation are of very poor quality and we didn’t want to use any footage from it. We knew the National Film Archives of India, Pune had some prints. But making copies of the required footage from those prints is normally a very complicated process. The completion of the film got delayed because of this. Finally, director Kamal, Chairman of Kerala Chalachithra Academy and editor Bina Paul, who is the Deputy Director of the Chalachithra Academy offered to help us with the formalities. The Chalachithra Academy also took care of the expenses for the lab work involved. We are happy that we have the 2K scanned footage of most of the films from the 35mm print

How important are the works of K.G. George in the history of Indian cinema?

In a nutshell, the films of K.G. George delves into the psyche of its characters. At that time, Malayalam cinema was coming out of the studios and films were being shot in real landscapes but K.G. George's camera focused on the mindscape of his characters. No other filmmaker in Malayalam cinema or in Indian cinema for that matter has tried to analyse so deeply the psychological framework of the characters in his/her films.

What separates his works from the other films produced in the same period?

Before K.G George, Malayalam cinema celebrated stereotypes. It glorified everything conventional. But he started out questioning the very basics of society, be it marriage or family or the government itself. This unapologetic anti-establishment outlook is what makes George’s films distinct from the rest.

Do you think that the aspiring filmmakers should look at his work?

All his films are content driven, not the other way around. They don’t grow old because the themes of his films are still relevant. Another thing is, unlike most of the new generation filmmakers, he was never apolitical. His films were very political and he never shied away from showing the dark side of life.