27 Apr 2022  |   04:45am IST

A step in the right direction

Goan filmmakers expressed their joy that one of their own would not have his short film screened in Cannes.

Ajit John

Goan cinema has yet another

opportunity to celebrate its talent and its ability to fight obstacles. Much has been written about the problems faced by the industry by way of the state government not clearing the dues of film makers. Even then the industry manages to make movies that catch the attention of the discerning film audience. Now a short film by a young Goan, Sainath S. Uskaikar who is studying Direction at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune will be screened in the Short Film category at the prestigious Cannes Film festival to be held in May.

The story, screenplay and direction is by Sainath S. Uskaikar who is completing his one year course is also an engineer by qualification from Goa and has deep interest in social causes. Speaking from Pune,he said the movie was about love and its manifestation and how the milieu around which the characters live in reacts to it. The ten minute film which is in Konkani was based on his observations. He said “When you look deeply, you can understand the milieu and the people in it”. He said I wrote the script in December and shot it in Jan in Surla. The entire shoot as such was done in sixty hours. This is a love story. And it shows how a place can affect a couple in love. Wagro is a place where sacrifice takes place. Who is sacrificing what? It is up to people to decide what to make of the film and what they can take away from it. There is a paradigm of questions involved and I don’t want to compartmentalise anything. It can be about caste, creed or any other reason, I leave it to the viewer to decide.”

Speaking about reactions he laughed and said his mother was the happiest when she learned the movie had been shortlisted and that he said made him very happy. He said “My mother has been very encouraging. I felt very great”. Sainath intends to make movies once he is done with the course and believes all movies are commercial because they are focused on telling a story and earning money for their producers. He has been watching a lot of movies but enjoys the cinema of two masters who belong to two very different schools, Martin Scorsese and Abbas Kiarostami. The film was produced by De Goan Studio which took the responsibility of sending it to Cannes.

The studio is headed by Rajesh R Pednekar and Gaaytri Pednekar. The sound design and mixing of the film is done by four time national award sound designer Bishwadeep Dipak Chatterjee. Liju Prabhakar from Kerala was associated as a colourist. The team also included cinematographer Amey Simepeuushkar,, editor Venkatesh Lagji and the background music was composed by Abhishek Kadam.

The reaction from the Goan film industry was overwhelming. Rajesh Pednekar said it was a great feeling to have the movie featured in Cannes. He said, “The overall team was young and energetic. It is a small love story. The main characters in the film want to know where they belong and where they want to go. Cinematically it is a very interesting film. Internationally they look for substance. I believe wherever there is a struggle there is a story.”

Milroy Goes whose movie was shortlisted at the Oscars said “I remember how I felt when my movie was shortlisted for the Oscars. It is a dream for every director to be selected either at Cannes or at the Oscar. This development is great news for this very small industry in Goa. I wish him all the very best.”

Darshan Lolienkar who has made movies in Konkani which caught the attention of everyone said it was a great achievement and all Goan filmmakers should be proud of this achievement. He said, “I wished him on his Facebook page. I strongly feel the government and the ESG should work together and help the Goan film industry. We need financial help to make movies. What is also important is to have a committee which comprises Goans to judge our films. They are presently judged by people from Bollywood who don’t understand our hardships. We are a young industry and our standards don’t match their standards as yet. We suffer because of that when they rank our films. When I made my movie Mariola-the Girl, Goans like Tomazinho Cardozo expressed their appreciation. We should be judged by Goan standards not Bollywood standards”.

Another veteran filmmaker Rajendra Talak felt it was commendable progress was being made but he said he would have been happier if it was in competition.

The industry may be going through tough times but there is no doubt there is talent and with the right encouragement, they could reach the stars.