HYDERABAD: Moms and housewives in films are docile goddesses, who are either put on a pedestal and revered or are superheroes. There is no in-between. So where is the ordinary woman whom we find at our own homes? The mothers, who put their youngsters first, and most often, don’t have a moment to themselves.
Rimi, a 13-minute film with minimal dialogues, shows housewives for who they truly are — women with dreams and desires. The short film is written and directed by Nischhal Sharma, a 22-year-old Hyderabadi and a graduate from the MetFilm School, London, who has made several short films.
Rimi, an earnest attempt to depict struggle in an honest and authentic manner, has premiered at the Indian Film Festival, Stuttgart, and will be screened at the IFFSA Toronto and RIFFA in August.
“It’s a story that every housewife, every woman can relate to and it’s not one of those where something dramatic happens. Instead, it intricately captures something extremely internal and complex. It takes the audience on a journey of experiencing the internal change that takes place within a person when they’re on the path of rediscovering themselves. Through minimal dialogue, the film depicts a family in a patriarchal society, with a woman at the receiving end of it. She, with each passing day, has denied herself of so much, sacrificed so much, given so much, changed so much — sometimes without even realising it. There is that moment when the realisation hits and nothing is the same ever again,” says Nischhal.
Rimi is a film that will inspire and resonate with many because it depicts women like any other housewife, any other woman who’s going through a similar struggle in life, and celebrates them. It’s a simple story of a complex world told through a gentle, nuanced and empathetic lens.
Rimi is Nischhal’s first large-scale film with a big crew. “The idea was stuck in my head during the lockdown. I have seen my mom make sacrifices daily. The other thing is films have picked up such topics but never depicted it in an empathetic and understanding manner. Rimi depicts housewives as they are and celebrates them,” says Nischhal, who recently started a production company called Cinelok.
Making this short film during the pandemic was definitely not an easy task. The director had to restrict the shoots to one location. Despite the challenges, the crew wrapped it up by March 15 and sent it to different film festivals. “We had to keep telling people to wear masks. This was a bit stressful as it distracts you from the task at hand. One of the major challenges I faced was to work with the post-production team. Everything had to be done virtual. I couldn’t oversee the editing. I used to be on my laptop for eight hours straight with my editor on call, facing all those lags and glitches. She used to send me short clips on my phone for me to see how a scene was looking,” she says.
Anany Khare, one of the producers as well as the cinematographer, shares that this was the first time that he had worked with Nischhal on such a big project. “It was quite overwhelming and as a producer, after reading the script it was clear to me that this is the kind of story that says a lot without saying much. That’s also exactly how the cinematography should be — a very static shot, to reflect the mandate duty of the character and the vibe of the house,” says Anany, who won Best Cinematography at the Wolf Film Festival 2021 and the International Smyrna Movie Festival 2021.
Rimi, the character played by Deepa Kiran, a performing artiste, a storyteller and a theatre artiste, was excited to explore a different medium. “I have not done much work in front of the camera. Coming from a space of performing arts and acting on stage, I was excited about exploring another medium. In storytelling, I have to learn everything, I have to know exactly what I’m talking about and just move from one emotion to another. Here, it is just the opposite. I spent a lot of time with my friends from the film fraternity and doing my homework. The storyline is simple yet powerful and impactful. Nischhal was always open to my suggestions,” says Deepa, who won Best Actor at the Wolf Film Festival 2021.
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