Nasir, a film about a compassionate salesman in a small town, has found resonance at an international forum. The film, anadaptation of a short story by eminent Tamil writer Dilip Kumar,has won a grant of €50,000 as part of the Netherlands Film Fund (NFF) and Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) Co-production Scheme. “The tie-up makes it the first Indo-Dutch collaboration for an independent Tamil film. Our Dutch co-producer is Rinkel Film,” says the film’s Coimbatore-based director Arun Karthick. Nasir has already won the prestigious HBF at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) for script and project development, and now, the grant for co-production has come as a bigger boon. Along with Nasir , another film, Feathers of a Father by Egyptian filmmaker Omar Elzohairy, has also won the grant.
“The IFFR gave me a great opportunity to pitch for a finance boost for my film. Nasir was first chosen for the BoostNL programme. That is an initiative to give market assistance and industry exposure to the HBF-supported films. Along with my Indian producer, Mathivanan Rajendran of Stray Factory from Chennai, we attended and pitched our film at the first phase at the Holland Film Meeting in Utrecht. The feedback was very good. It is here that our Dutch Co-producer Rinkel Film came on board.”
With the funding in place, Karthick plans to start shooting in a few months time. “It will be shot entirely in Coimbatore on the streets, shops and alleys. Nasir, the protagonist, works in a shop in one of the busy lanes of Oppanakkara Street. He lives with his wife and mother, and the film follows him as he traverses the alleys where he meets and hobnobs with his friends and co-workers. We are introduced to the small details and little joys of Nasir’s life. The audience travels along with Nasir experiencing his experiences. After a long day, his life is interrupted without any warning. That’s why I wanted to tell this story to the larger world,” narrates Arun. The post-production work of the film, sound and grading, will be done at the studios in Amsterdam.
Karthick’s first feature Sivapuranam/The Strange Case of Shiva premièred at the IFFR’s Bright Future section in 2016. After watching this film, Mathivanan Rajendran offered to produce Nasir . Says Mathivanan, “I was blown away by it. We were into theatre and web series and were looking at supporting independent films. When I saw Arun’s film, I realised that he is someone who is swimming against the tide. I drove down to Coimbatore to meet him. He took me around the busy streets as he narrated the story of Nasir . I was hooked. It is an honest story and relevant to the times we live in. We have been working for over two years to raise funds for the film.”
It is not a dramatic plot, but a detailed cinematographic description of space that drives the film, explains Arun. “I don’t make an attempt to hypnotise or mesmerise. I show how small businesses run in the city. I have been living in a ghetto for over 16 months to develop this film. We also pitched the film at the Dubai Film Market. The premise of the story made an impact everywhere. The Dutch producers said that this story has to be told, urgently and immediately.”
Arun says he decided to make Nasir in the wake of the communal riots that broke out in Coimbatore recently, after nearly two decades. “Extremists stormed into the city and started attacking shops. I had set up a kiosk to sell coffee and sugarcane juice and my shop was one of the 100 shops that were destroyed in the riots. The absurdity of mob violence and the pre-conceived notions about other communities compelled me to make this film. When a common man, who has no interest in violence in any form, or any political leanings, is victimised, it is unsettling.”
