Jaishankar Aryar entered the industry in 2018 with a clean slate. No film school training, no experience working as an assistant, and no in-depth exposure to cinema.
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Four years later, in October 2022, his debut feature film Shivamma had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, where it shared the first prize in the New Currents competition category with the Korean film A Wild Roomer. Last month, it also bagged the Young Jury Award at Festival des 3 Continents in France.
Basking in the praise for Shivamma, the 31-year-old joins the league of young directors in Kannada cinema who are experimenting with formats while bringing more rooted, gritty stories to the screen.
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Jaishankar’s brief body of work – two short films and a feature film – is characterised by the use of untrained actors and a documentary style of filmmaking to tell fictional stories. It is an approach he has adopted more due to his lack of technical know-how, rather than a brazen attempt to establish his own style.
“It was inevitable. I knew nothing about cinema. The documentary style of filmmaking didn’t require much technical knowledge while allowing me to capture my story as realistically as possible. It was also less distracting for the actors, who could perform without becoming conscious of the camera,” he says.
Everyday life is a rich source of stories for Jaishankar, who draws his characters from a keen observation of real people. “Non-professional actors are readymade for such roles. If I want someone to play a policeman, I’ll go in search of a real-life cop. But casting is hard and I have had to face a lot of rejections from potential actors,” he explains.
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A turning point
The film bug bit Jaishankar when he moved to Bengaluru from Koppal district to pursue his BE degree. However, it was a two-day workshop by director Pawan Kumar that truly introduced him to the process of filmmaking.
“We had to make a short film and edit it, too. I shot some footage and then stitched them together. The act of weaving visuals together to tell a story felt strangely simple and made me happy,” says Jaishankar.
Jaishankar’s films are characterised by the use of untrained actors and a documentary style of filmmaking to tell fictional stories | Photo Credit: Margaux Martins
In 2018, his path collided with director Rishab Shetty, who was the judge at a film festival where Jaishankar’s first short film, Narasimaiahan Phylum (NP), won the top prize. They soon collaborated on a short film, Lacchavva, which was part of Katha Sangama, an anthology produced by Rishab.
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The story of a single mother from a remote village in Hubballi who moves to Bengaluru for her son and gets lost in the big city was an exploration of Jaishankar’s own impatience and misunderstandings with his mother. It won the Best Film award at the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival.
The overwhelming response to Lacchavva gave Jaishankar the confidence to go ahead with his maiden feature. Bankrolled by Rishab Shetty Films, Shivamma tells the story of a woman who gets into a multi-level marketing business to earn money for her daughter’s marriage and to take care of her husband with disability.
The making of ‘Shivamma’
Inspiration was waiting to be found in chance encounters. A salesperson who came by Rakshit Shetty’s office, two boys in a train practicing their speaking skills after attending a multi-level marketing event, the memory of an uncle who had tried to rope Jaishankar’s family into a similar scheme – all these random incidents culminated in Shivamma.
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“The man who came to Rakshit’s office was explaining the features of his product with great enthusiasm but nobody there wanted it. As he was repacking his wares with a dejected look, I felt a surge of empathy for him. That emotion developed into Shivamma’s story,” explains Jaishankar.
Controversial Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier also had an influence on the making of Shivamma. “After watching Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark, nothing came close to satisfying my desire for learning as a filmmaker,” he says.
When he shot the film at Yerehanchinala, his village in Koppal district, there was never a sliver of doubt that he was aiming for a theatrical release. “Shivamma is not an arthouse project; it is realistic but is packed with commercial elements to entertain people. I’m exploring a new path with the festival circuit.”
While Shivamma is set to continue its dream run at the US and Australian film festivals in 2023 before an Indian premiere and theatrical release by 2024, its maker — who is back to working the US hours at his IT job — confesses to a feeling of emptiness and uncertainty.
“I feel like I have to restart my uphill journey. I plan to absorb poetry, painting, music, books and world cinema for the next six months and grow more,” says Jaishankar. The slate has been wiped clean, again.