Aboy lost in the big city… Which boy? Which city? For director Safdar Rahman, whose debut film Chippa premiered at the MAMI Film Festival and screened at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) last week, such specifics aren’t much of a concern. The coming-of-age story follows a 10-year-old street urchin called Chippa, played by Sunny Pawar, earlier seen in Lion (2016) and Sacred Games (2018) — Netflix series.
On the eve of this 10th birthday, Chippa discovers a letter from his estranged father written in Urdu, and sets about seeking a translator among the night owls of Kolkata. “I was fascinated by the idea of a child wanting to leave home, to run away. It’s a universal feeling,” says Safdar, who discloses that the film is set in Park Circus in Kolkata and is about the immigrants who live there. “I’ve tried to capture a new aspect to the city. At the same time, I am aware that outsiders won’t give two hoots about local flavour. To them it may be just another film about Bengali nostalgia, and that’s perfectly fine with me.”
An alumnus of Jadavpur University, Safdar moved from Kolkata to Delhi as an instructor for Teach For India. He taught for a couple of years at a primary school in the slums of Seelampur in Delhi. Here, he started directing slum kids in plays adapted from popular stories, including Salman Rushdie’s Haroun And the Sea of Stories (1990). The idea of merging storytelling with education excited him the most, reveals Safdar, who also runs the education-based non-profit organisation Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.
After completing his teaching stint, Safdar returned to Kolkata in 2014 and assisted indie filmmaker Q (Quashiq Mukherjee) on the comedy Brahman Naman (2016) and other projects, before deciding to write and direct his own film. “There’s a huge cultural baggage that artists in Kolkata have to carry. The Bengali film industry is not conducive to the independent spirit anymore.
That’s why most of us are moving out. I think Ronnie Sen (Cat Sticks, also screened at IFFLA) is the only indie filmmaker who is sticking around in the city,” Safdar says. While the desire to upend cultural hegemonies is a common sentiment among young filmmakers, he is quick to admit the influence of his roots. “I am chilled out when it comes to stuff like that. As you can see in the film’s poster, I have shown a yellow taxi, but covered it with a garden.”
For the role of Chippa, Safdar wanted to cast the child actor who played Haroun in his play. But the boy had since grown with signs of puberty showing on his face. Then, in 2016, Safdar saw Sunny in Garth Davis’ Lion and decided to cast him. “Sunny is immensely talented and sensitive. But at his age, he’s more interested in playing an afternoon cricket game than a film career. He couldn’t remember Anurag Kashyap despite working with him in Sacred Games as the character Chota Gaitonde.”
Chippa was shot in the winter of 2017 with 80 per cent scenes set at the night using street lighting. Cinematographer Ramanuj Dutta (Kadvi Hawa, Chauranga) incorporated popular locales like the alleys of North Kolkata or the potters’ colony in Kumartuli, steering clear of landmarks.
“When we think of films set in the night, we imagine a bleak, noir aesthetic. Chippa, on the other hand, is a film about hope. It’s gritty but not macabre.” After IFFLA, Chippa heads to the Zlin Film Festival for Children in Czech Republic, followed by the Edinburgh Film Festival. What about the film’s India release? “My producers are serious about a theatrical, though it will cost a lot. We’re also looking at digital. I don’t care so much. I just want the film to be seen,” he says.