BENGALURU: In the world of Indian cinema, the recipe for success is being increasingly perceived as a combination of high-production value, big-budget actors, and a commercial storyline that appeals to the masses. Yet, ever so often, fresh-faced filmmakers have been breaking the mould with low-budget independent films that stand out solely for their original storylines and filmmaking techniques.
The latest among such films is 1888, a Kannada thriller starring Neethu Shetty that was recently nominated for the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival. Directed by first-time filmmaker Sourabh Shukla, the film was originally supposed to be a short docu-drama. “While researching the phenomenon (demonetisation) and its implications, we came across some very interesting incidents which we decided to weave into the story and it ended up becoming a thriller that was of feature-length,” Shukla says, adding that he cannot point to a specific inspiration behind the movie, but rather a desire to make something that didn’t adhere to traditional templates.
That desire led to the team choosing to shoot the film entirely through the Guerrilla filmmaking technique. “I was clear that we should shoot this movie in Guerrilla style to bring in that raw appeal. And once we started production, seeing our budget and resource constraints, I realised that this was our only methodology to complete the movie. The major benefit was that we could shoot with a skeleton crew of just three-four people apart from the actors needed for the scene. It obviously helped us save on costs,” Shukla shares.
Working on a subject that is based on real-life events is always a challenge, especially one that affected millions of people across the country. For Shukhla, the real challenge was facing the consequence of incorporating real-life incidents. “There was this risk of the censor board objecting to it, or people drawing parallels and filing a case against us.
But since we were a debutant team and had nothing to lose, we went ahead and incorporated those with some modifications to suit the cinema and the characters in it,” he shares, adding, “Since we were normally shooting without permission, there were umpteen cases where we were chased away by cops. We had a lot of obstructions and distractions to take care of apart from the constant pressure to quickly finish the shoot which would otherwise disturb the locals of that area.”
What message does 1888 hope to give the audience? “We were clear we do not want to be preachy. We wanted to engage the audience by showing them things which were unheard of and never explored before in Indian cinema. However, by the time the movie ends, a subtle underlying message about patriotism does come out. It’s not chest-thumping or vocal, but more of a realisation that there are some people who protect our country and do a good job though they do not get any recognition,” Shukla concludes.
(1888 is available to stream on bookmyshow.com)