Chopin motivated me to make ‘Katti Nrittam’: Aneek on his psychological Malayalam film

Aneek Chaudhuri's Malayalam directorial ‘Katti Nrittam’ is a complex web of relationships and follows the journey of a failed Kathakali dancer. The genre of this film is deep dark and it explores melancholic layers in relationships. The film, starring talented actors like Anuska Chakraborty, Sabuj Barddhan and Rukmini Sircar among others, draws inspiration from a neo-realist style of Cinema and is being filmed in a documentary style approach.In a candid chat with Etimes, the talented filmmaker who has received critical acclaim for his earlier films ‘White’ and ‘Cactus’ talks about the concept of ‘Katti Nrittam’, his inspiration, language barrier in films and more. Excerpts:


I shifted to Calcutta in 2016; the city seemed brighter when I was in Delhi, however, things seemed mundane once I reached here. Nothing was like as I perceived it to be. People have become more pretentious and there is always a lack of inclination to learn something. The question is not what made me want to make a film in Malayalam, the question is why I am shying away from Bengali Cinema. Moreover, Malayalam films post 2013-the time when actors like Fahadh Faasil, Nivin Pauly, Soubin Shahir initiated a parallel mode of Cinema, have really impressed me. My trip to Kalamandalam in 2018 was pivotal too in choosing this as a concept to make a film.


I don’t think language can ever be a barrier while making a film; I mean the term World Cinema has kind of eliminated it long back. Speaking of dubbing, we are involving a process that does not require the actors to learn the language and yet be significant in each scene. In addition, Rukmini’s face is a bonus who looks like a real Kathakali dancer without the masks.


Well, there is no grammar to it! I love to imagine things in the real world. And most importantly, faces inspire me to write down a story. It does not matter if I am directly in contact with that person, but an imaginary sense of proximity helps me. And, I keep on amending scripts before the shoot; this can be a bad habit, but till now it has helped. I am unsure of how the people who refer to this script in OSCARS library will perceive it. Katti Nrittam has a raw script and has many more improvisations to it.
Chopin has motivated a lot in putting up this script though; the etudes in Chopin’s compositions have helped me to create palettes for the good vs evil in this film. If we take the example of Opt 10, No.3 E major, we can see the RIGHT hand playing melody and the left hand complementing it. The same combination has been used in this film when the killer is killing while being assisted by his female companion. Moreover, the narrative goes on like the minor and major chords of the piano when it transits from the background to the foreground. Moreover, the film begins in a dramatic note that is comparable to the revolutionary Etude (C Minor) of Chopin’s (Polish composer and virtuoso pianist from the 18^th century).