[Reader-list] First Posting: A photoroman feature film: A love story intertwined with the myth and folklore of Delhi's heritage sites

[sidharth srinivasan]

Hi fellow fellows!
                       I am an independent filmmaker who shuttles between
Mumbai and Dilli, or between head and heart respectively! I have been based
in Mumbai on and off for the past 5 years but Delhi is the city I belong to.
I graduated from St. Stephen's College having studied Economics and
immediately jumped into a life of filmmaking and glorious uncertainty!
After 2 years assisting various people I went independent and my initial
foray into direction was a short film titled THE TIGHTROPE WALKER (35mm,
15mins, Hindi) which made it in competition to Venice in 2000. The film was
an experimental short on the anonymous life and (imagined?) love of a young
woman who lives in a suburban highrise in Bombay. I followed this up in 2001
with one of the country's first digital feature films titled DIVYA DRISHTI
(DVC, 95mins, Hindi) which was banned by the then censor board owing to
profanity/street lingo and the casual depiction of a gay love affair between
two married men (the cesnors said that homosexuality was against Indian
culture). However to my joy this small film has carved a niche of its own
being screened at various festivals (Singapore, Commonwealth, Karachi etc)
and museums (Walker Art Centre, Museum of Contemporary Art, Nova Cinema
etc). Currently I have finished my debut "multiplex" film, if you will, a
supernatural thriller titled AMAVAS starring Konkona Sensharma, Victor
Banerjee and others. The film should be released by mid 2006. I also make
documentaries and most recently have shot a film on the endangered world
heritage site of Hampi for UNESCO.

Living away from Delhi and returning there from time to time made me look at
the city differently. Hanging out at Safdarjung, Aurobindo Place and Green
Park I was struck by the rambling and dilapidated ruins of monuments lying
amidst the urban space of markets and colonies. I realized that I had taken
them for granted to such an extent that I didn't even know what these
structures looked like from within. A few trips made were enough to get my
juices flowing and soon the germ of an idea took place in my mind.

Delhi unlike Bombay was an urban city with space for clandestine love.
Mosques and mausoleums, tombs and temples dotted the city and in turn were
dotted by names of anonymous lovers etched forever on stone and granite. Who
were these secret lovers, what was there story, for surely they had a story
to tell, and by extension, there must be countless such myths and folk tales
surrounding these various heritage sites...I decided to weave a contemporary
clandestine love story among the ruins of Delhi - a love story where the
young man and girl in question become influenced by the past to such an
extent that it starts overtaking their conscious waking life...

As a filmmaker I also took a conscious decision to treat the proposed film
differently. Some years ago I had the good fortune of seeing Chris Marker's
legendary film "La Jetee" a sci-fi film comprised entirely of still images
with voice-over narration and sound design - Marker called the film a
photoroman. The film was so influential that not only did Hollywood make an
ugly remake (12 monkeys) but a La Jetee Bar also exists in Tokyo! I came up
with the decision to make my film in a similar fashion albeit do away with
voice over narrative and in its stead have many voices of both the present
and the past imbue the sound design.

And that is where SARAI/CSDS thankfully came in. My research is ostensibly
on "excavating" the various stories, myths, legends, folk tales and
"sthalapuranas" surrounding the heritage spots of Delhi City which would
find there way into the script for my proposed photoroman - in short my
research is on all the stuff that never finds its way into the text books.
So if any of you have any bizarre, grotesque, cute, strange and downright
fascinating stories to tell about nooks and corners and gullies and gates in
Delhi please inform me. Also, if you know any wise old men and women who
love hearing the sound/s of their own voices and talk about Delhi as if it
were a loved one please put me on to them. I look forward to hearing from
you and wish all of you all the very best with ur proposed research...

Best,
SIDHARTH SRINIVASAN
--
MR. SIDHARTH SRINIVASAN
Reel Illusion Films
New Delhi/Mumbai
India
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