In between two states
BENGALURU: Filter Coffee Aur Masala Chai will surely remind you of the breezy light-hearted movies from the ‘70s. The second in the Families short film trilogy, this is performed by danseuse Savitha Sastry and directed by AK Srikanth.
Filter Coffee Aur Masala Chai brings together several cine and television artistes from the north and south, including Monika Shah, Zeeba Ashrin, Kowsalya Natarajan, Sridhar, Vinay Sachdeva and Parminder Singh Shah, who play important supporting roles. The film, based on a typical Delhi family, focuses on a Punjabi-Tamil couple and their eccentric relatives. While the film centres around the character played by Savitha, every supporting actor also has unique characterisations that makes the whole film believable.
The film is based on the short story written by Srikanth, and is an allegory on the diversity and unity of India as represented through a typical Indian family. “The family that is in the film basically represents our country. We fight about petty things but when something serious happens, we forget our diverse culture and stand up together. This is our ode to India,” says Srikanth.
Like their previous film Arangetram, Filter Coffee Aur Masala Chai too is a breezy comedy - one that can be enjoyed by the whole family together. “I just took a lead from stalwarts like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Bhattacharya where families can sit together and watch, something like Amol Palekar’s movie like Gol Maal. Both Savitha and I are huge fans of Hrishi da’s movie,” says Srikanth, who had previously made movies like Descent, Beyond the Rains, Dvija and The Colors Trilogy. He further added, “Dveja was quite an intense film to make. Savitha and I were discussing why we shouldn’t make something light hearted.”
Savitha, who plays the lead in the movie, is seen playing the role of a dancer. Since dance is her comfort language, Savitha says she went with the director’s vision and used it as an element wherever required. “He does not let me get carried away with dance. He has a very clear vision of the story. If you reach out to me as a dancer, I will put dance everywhere whether necessary or not. Sri takes off all those elements that do not have to be there. And I have learnt to think like that,” says Savitha, adding there is one dance element with children to keep that ‘Indianness’ of the film.