Making a big statement on a small budget

Debutant director’s crowd-funded venture humbles male ego

Writer-activist Meena Kandasamy plays Maya, the mysterious female protagonist of Oralpokkam.

Last week, independent filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan posted an interesting link to Facebook.

It navigates to a page on film lovers’ collective Kazhcha Film Forum’s website with details of proceeds from donations and expenditure of his maiden feature film, Oralpokkam , a crowd-funded venture which is in the final stages of post-production.

Details of daily cash inflow and expenditure since November 18 last year, when the film project was launched, are made available in a spreadsheet, with a separate list on contributors (who will be recognised as its co-producers) and sums donated by them. Kazcha, which had earlier canned two widely-acclaimed short films—the experimental

Athisayalokam and the far-more appealing

Frog with a strong visual polemic—made every penny count with thriftiness and accountability.

The multi-lingual film was shot across the country, with a major schedule in the upper reaches of Sonaprayag abutting the flood-ravaged Kedarnath.

But the makers, acutely aware as they are of its shoestring budget, travelled with a frugal crew with each technician taking on many responsibilities.

In a post, Sanal says despite being on a tiny budget, the makers did not want to compromise on the demands of the subject—humbling of the male ego as the film’s male protagonist roams the inhospitable and intimidating Himalayas in desperate search of his estranged partner.

Filming on the lacerated mountain trails, chilly plateaus and devastated riverine villages was absolutely necessary. “But cost-cutting was a must to finish the film within the available budget. The first thing we did to reduce cost was limiting the crew. There was only one assistant in the direction department and no assistant cameraman in the camera crew…”

Production designer Murugan chipped in to handle costumes; make-up, except where heavy make-up was needed; and art departments. None of the actors charged any fee. While Prakash Bare, who essays the male protagonist Mahendran, a journalist, even bore his personal expenses including travel fare, others like writer-activist Meena Kandasamy (who plays Maya, its mysterious female protagonist) and Bengali director Bikramjit Gupta only had their travel bills footed by Kazhcha.

The collective ploughed back into the movie Rs 40,000 it received by way of State Award for the film Fro g.

“An out-and-out road movie, it concurrently travels along the cavernous mental terrains of the characters,” says Sanal.

“A bit of mixing and colour correction is all that remains to be done now.” But Kazhcha is still short of funds and the makers are hopeful of donations from online community members and well-wishers.