One of the longest Konkani films in the pipeline, ironically,
‘Hasta-La-Vista’ was the quickest shot film to go through post production and
released within a month. A huge achievement for the director, Joywin Fernandes,
who decided to upload the entire film on the video sharing platform, YouTube,
instead of going to the traditional cinemas. Just five days on Konkani
Entertainment – Channel 8 on YouTube, the film of 65 minutes duration has
received 34,000 views which is growing every hour of the day.
Joywin Fernandes has tightly weaved the
film together with three different couples and yet they are connected. “I had
to edit the film and get rid of the unnecessary scenes as it had to be crisp
for the viewers on the YouTube platform. I wanted to have a film on the lines
of ensemble movies like ‘Love Actually’ which has different stories and somehow
they connect. It has been ten years in the making. The first schedule was with
Keziah and Brijesh was done before Covid-19. She had come down from UK
especially for the film. In the second schedule, the movie was completed in 15
days this September, including shoot, editing, dubbing, colour correction and
scores and sound design,” says Joywin Fernandes, who has four more movies in
the pipeline.
The film is written,
directed and produced by Joywin Fernandes. The fine cast of Keziah Carvalho,
Scully D’Souza, Meena Goes, Jennifer Fernando, Elvis Mascarenhas, Brijesh
Kakodker and Vishal Gawas, is supported by Kerryann Valerie Albuquerque, Dr
Arnisha Travasso, Dr Tarika Raikar, Dr Hubert Gomes, Pradeep Naik, Sydney
Fernandes, Dattesh Priolkar, Melba Menezes, Denifa Dias, Claudina Fernandes,
Johnny de Candolim and Aden Fernandes. The film also features cameos by Snaden Fernandes and
Zeeyan Fernandes. Joywin has also worked on the cinematography, editing, colour
correction, sound design and light design of the film and Aliro Safin Rodrigues
and Franoy Gomes were the camera assistants.
From Mandos, Konkani songs, tiatrs and Konkani films, Elvis
Mascarenhas needs no introduction when it comes to his soulful voice and acting
abilities. One of the actors in the film revolving around three couple, Elvis’
character has a rude reality to face through his character. He was one of the
first actors to be roped in for this film. “Around nine years back, Joywin
pitched this idea for a film and even started a Whatsapp group. Then, there was
no news from him as he was busy with work and even I had many projects. I met
him four years back when he again reminded me about the film and then last
year, he told me he was going ahead with the planning. A month back, he came to
my place in Ponda with the script and for over an hour, he spoke about the film
and my character. I could visualise the story as they are three different
stories. My role was shot in three days and over just a few hours,” says Elvis,
who teaches drums at the Pilar School of Music in Pilar.
Elvis has been part
of many Konkani songs that have been uploaded on YouTube but this was the first
film. “I have been receiving many messages about the film and you can make out
who has actually watched it. Joywin has taken a huge risk by uploading the film
and yet it is doing well. Sometimes Konkani songs also don’t get that many views and the bar doesn’t go up but for a full length film,
‘Hasta-La-Vista’ is doing well online. People are really dedicating their time to
watch the film and I am very happy about that,” adds Elvis.
The songs for the film are Lyrics & Music Director: Elick
Vaz and sung by Cielda Pereira and Elick and recorded at Veltuned Studio,
Benaulim. The songs are mastered and mixed by Alfin Fernandes. The recordist is
Stephen da Costa and the background score was recorded at JS Studio, Seraulim
and voice dubbed at Manfa’ Recording Studio, Margao.
A government employee of the Excise Department in Panjim, Vishal
Gawas takes on a new avatar when he is either on stage or in front of a camera.
A resident of Keri, Satteri, he has been a part of the Konkani film industry as
well Konkani tiatrs and Konkani nataks. “I watched the film with my family, the
same evening it was uploaded, by connecting the internet on the TV. After the
movie was over, my mother turned to me and said, why did you have to be so
violent? That was the best compliment I received for my role. People from all
over the world have been messaging me after watching the film and some are even
joking that they want to beat me up for being so abusive. This has been one of
the best roles of my film career,” smiles Vishal, overwhelmed with the response
for the film.
When Joywin explained
the story and the character to Vishal, he could immediately imagine the role he
had to play. “There are certain finer details that you have to get right when
you are playing a character. The sitting postures, the eating habit and the way
he reacts are some of the traits that bring a character to life. The plot explored
by Joywin is so relatable that Goans can easily accept and connect to the
story. Even though I am aggressive in the film, this is the reality when it
comes to domestic abuse. Joywin has done the best role of a cinematographer,
producer and director as he knew what he wanted from the film and how to get
the actors to create those characters,” says Vishal, who is currently working
in ‘Zakas 420’, a Konkani natak, which he has written and directed. He will
next be seen on the tiatr stage in Seby De Divar’s tiatr in January 2023.
