During the first lockdown in 2020, when OTT platforms were a major source of entertainment, aspiring filmmaker Sainath Ponna was eager to narrate a story. It seemed like the best time to tap into the burgeoning digital entertainment space.
Having returned to India after completing a filmmaking course at the EICAR International Film School, Paris, he began working on his first Telugu feature film Geometry Box, unaware that he would be swimming against the tide. He completed the indie film in October 2021 and took it to OTT platforms, only to realise that digital players favoured films and series with known names in the cast or crew. “The idea was to make an independent film and narrate a story to the best of our capacity. As long as the story reaches the audiences, the platform does not matter,” says Sainath. As a result, Geometry Box will stream from April 14 on geometrybox.in and on Vimeo on the pay-and-watch model.
The initial portions that trace the loneliness of an elderly couple in a village are faintly reminiscent of Telugu films Shatamanam Bhavati and Midhunam. But soon, the story takes a turn when the elders embark on a road trip, stopping at each of the homes of their three children.
An oft-used trope in cinema is about children neglecting parents. Sainath shows the larger picture that can make parents do some soul searching as well and evaluate the impact their decisions have had on their children’s lives. “It is not that the children do not care for their parents; they are caught up with the mess in their own lives.”
Sainath Ponna (in blue) on the sets of ‘Geometry Box’
The younger son makes the father understand the importance of dignity of labour while the daughter shakes up conventional notions of putting up with a bad marriage to conform to societal expectations. The eldest son, whom the parents have showered everything with, makes them face ugly truths.
Some of the crucial confrontations happen in darker settings, as though mirroring the gloomy mood of the parents. The film ends after daybreak when the sunshine brings with it clarity and hope: “It was a conscious decision to have the characters discuss issues in the evening and night; I think people confront the truth better when they are not distracted by other tasks during the day,” Sainath reasons.
The elders in the story also do not use mobile or landline phones, and this comes in handy to weave in situations of emotional drama.
Geometry Box was filmed in the Nalgonda region of Telangana in sync sound. Prior to filming, Sainath and the crew had extensive online discussions to do the storyboarding and plan the shot divisions.
Initially Sainath considered having non-actors for the film but considering the practical difficulties of training them, chose actors who had theatre or film experience. Viplav who plays Venu, a trusted hand for the elderly couple, and Giribabu Devulapalli as the younger son, Krishna, were among the first to be chosen. Mula Virat Ashok Reddy and Rukmini play the elderly couple.
Some of the crew including cinematographer Akshay Ingle, sound designer Sudarshan Sawant and production designer Uttam Mondal, are graduates of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. Karthick Iyer came on board as the music composer.
Sainath was an MBA with a banking sector job who later moved to filmmaking. He recalls his growing boredom with a corporate job. Watching Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha, where the protagonist played by Ranbir Kapoor, eventually lets the artistic streak win over his mundane routine, proved to be a turning point: “I felt as though the film and the character spoke directly to me.”
Sainath decided to learn filmmaking. His family worried that he was making a mistake in trading a stable career for cinema, but he was determined: “I like French nouveau films and wanted to study in Paris. The experience helped. We planned the film to the smallest detail and there were days when we filmed 60 shots.” Earlier, he made a musical documentary film Kiss My Brass in French and English.
