Anandmurthy’s Siman wins eight awards at Calcutta Film Festival

Anandmurthy’s short film Sinam made in Tamil has won eight awards at the recently held Calcutta International Cult Film Festival and it is now made it to the finals at Best Shorts California.
Anandmurthy on the sets
Anandmurthy on the sets

Anandmurthy’s short film Sinam made in Tamil has won eight awards at the recently held Calcutta International Cult Film Festival and it is now made it to the finals at Best Shorts California. Basically a Bengalurean, Anandmurthy has done his fine arts from Ken School of art. “The film winning in eight categories  is said to be the first time for a short film, and I was glad to know about it,” says Anandmurthy. Featuring Sai Dhanshika of Kabali fame, and Bidita Bag in  the lead, Siman has music by GV Prakash and cinematography by Saravana Natarajan.  “It is a social film that will create a buzz when it gets released.”

Sai Dhanshika
Sai Dhanshika

Having started as an assistant with director Kathir, Anandmurthy has assisted various directors over the last 25 years. He is now assisting director Bala for his upcoming film, a remake of Arjun Reddy starring Chiyaan Vikram’s son Dhruv.

“My first film Thileepan is stuck due to financial crunch and I had to do this 20-minute short film to show that I am capable of handling a feature. This script also needs to be made as a short as it won’t be able to pass through censor as feature as it deals with a very controversial subject,” says Anandmurthy, who gives a synopsis of Sinam “It piques the interest of a documentary film-maker, when the caller identifies her as a prostitute.

And shocks her when she says that her father is the reason why she finds herself in a brothel today.  When Durga, the film-maker visits Shakthi, the prostitute, we get to hear the story of the travails of a woman, named after an Indian Goddess confessing her story to another that bears a similar name.  This ironical subtlety forms the bedrock of the narration, which is an account of anger (Sinam) prevailing over love. As we wind down contemplating this irony, we join Durga in tears as the film ends with a soulful rendering of a Tagore poem,” he says.

Anandmurthy’s next move is do a feature, which is currently in discussion with various producers and he hopes everything fall in place. “But short films will be my forte, as I get say some story, which mainstream cannot say, they have a lot of restriction regarding religion and language,” he says.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com