THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At an age when making films using smartphones and digital cameras have become easier, a youngster from the city is making waves through his short film ‘Waft’ which has made its way into various international film festivals before its official release on Youtube and Netflix.
Vishnu Udayan, a BA English graduate, never thought that his film would be selected to 17 International Film Festivals winning 7 awards including best director and best short film amid five nominations.
Waft, a 12-minute short film revolves around the love relationship between two characters, Ashvath and Aradhya. A ‘silly’ incident prompted them to break up the relationship and the remaining plot of the film deals with Ashvath’s emotions. The film has only a limited cast of three people enacted by Ashish Sridhar, Syju John and Revathy Sampath.
“ Waft is a romantic film which has the essence of emotions and suspense element. The major part of the film is conveyed through emotions. It is a passage of Ashvath’s life where he struggles to find where Aradhya has disappeared. I approached the film to explore how one comes to terms with grim realities. I did not want to paint a gloomy picture and focused more on a narrative that leaves more room for viewers to interpret and make their own conclusions”, Vishnu said.
Vishnu completed his schooling in Thiruvananthapuram. Later, he moved to Mumbai for a direction training programme at the Institute of Creative Excellence run by Balaji Telefilms. As early as 2012, he has been actively making short films and music videos. He has seven short films and three music videos to his credit. He also assisted in ‘Prakasan’ – an Indo-French film in Malayalam directed by Bash Mohammed, which premiered at MAMI and has featured in six international film festivals. Waft has received seven awards including Silver Award for Best Narrative Short at Independent Shorts Awards, Los Angeles and Bronze Award for Best Original Score at Independent Shorts Awards, Los Angeles.