Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy is the eternal optimist and idealist. The soft-spoken filmmaker radiates hope and positivity; traits that he has captured in his debut feature film, A Billion Colour Story , “a film in black and white about colour”.
The poignant movie, which was screened at the Kazhcha Indie Film Fest in the city, moved the audience so much that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house after the show. By now Padmakumar, a.k.a. Paddy, is used to such adulation and appreciation wherever his film has been screened. It has travelled to film festivals in London, Los Angeles, California, Canada, Stuttgart, Busan and France among others. “I am touched when I see so much of love for my movie,” says the ad filmmaker-turned-filmmaker.
A still from A Billion Colour Story directed by Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy
The story is told from the perspective of 11-year-old Hari Aziz, whose father is a Muslim and mother is a Hindu. The parents, two optimistic filmmakers, instil goodness and hope in their son, even when they face religious intolerance and several setbacks. Hari, wise beyond his age, is attached to his father, Imran Aziz, who believes that India is an incredible country. And when his world is turned upside down, it is Hari who re-instils hope in him.
An inspiring, heart-warming story, it emphasises that there are still many factors that unite this country of a billion people. Something that Paddy himself believes in.
In fact one can draw several parallels between the real and reel in this film. The beautiful relationship between Imran and Hari, for example, is very like Paddy’s relationship with his 14-year-old son, Dhruv, who has played Hari. “I wanted him to be part of a meaningful work. I had to sell him the idea of this movie! I gave him a proper narration of two-and-half hours. Both of us are hyperactive but that was one of the few occasions he sat down and listened to me. He agreed when I said that I wanted him to play Hari. We have a democratic relationship. For me the emotional part was writing the story and then directing him,” says Paddy.
He proudly tells us that Dhruv was shortlisted for Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book . He didn’t clear the auditions because Jon was reportedly looking for a less beautiful face! “I have enjoyed chronicling his growing up (which you can watch when the end credits roll). I wanted to shoot him before he hit his teens. He is a creative person and wants to become a writer,” says the proud father. Like Imran and Hari, they both also look at the bright side of life. Paddy remembers how he enjoyed a lot of goodwill during the shooting of the film: his actors didn’t take money; people opened their doors for the shooting. He believes that people have an inherent goodness in them. He adds: “Nobody is born wanting to hate. The fact that the movie got a positive response wherever it was screened shows that people like the idea of loving other people. That is why love stories always succeed on screen.”
Paddy asserts that he would never be able to make a film about the dark side of life because he could never look at life with suspicion “because if you are looking over your shoulder all the time, how will you look ahead?”
It is that conviction that gave him the confidence to give up his 17-year-old career in advertising. The national creative head of Rediffusion when he quit, Paddy remembers travelling almost every day, managing five offices. He was bored and not getting any joy out of what he did. “I wanted to become a writer and started working on my book that will hopefully come out next year. I also made music videos and documentaries, before I decided to make the movie.”
He ended up as the writer, scenarist, director, producer and cinematographer of the movie. Friends and well-wishers pitched in. Satish Kaushik stepped in to co-produce after he approached him to play a small role in the feature.
What came handy was his experience in advertisement. Advertising makes you think on your feet, he observes. Perhaps, that also gave him the confidence to shoot the movie in black and white. “Being an ad guy, I want things to centre around a particular idea and so I thought that making a black and white film about colour would be unique. Black and white is my favourite visual medium as I find it honest, stark and poetic. I wanted people to imagine colours when I talked about colours and a lot of people told me that they actually saw the movie in colour.”
With the film hopeful of getting a theatrical release next year, Paddy will start shooting his next feature, Distant Teardrop , set against conflicts in Sri Lanka. Based on his short story, it is about an aged father and his son who are separated, but come together to bridge the communal divide. “I believe I can spread good around me and I am trying to doing it through my work,” he signs off.
