Single-shot
movies are a test of craft for even seasoned filmmakers, and
Bharathan Kumanan
, a young filmmaker, has showcased his direction chops with the short film
Lit
, which is a single-shot movie that happens in a moving car, and has a running time of about 25 minutes.
The film, which is in the dark humour genre, has been receiving acclaim on the festival circuit, winning awards at Gona Film Awards, Eastern Europe Film Festival, Golden Sparrow International Film Festival, Indo French International Film Festival and Tagore International Film Festival among others.
“I had done a three-minute, single-shot short as my college final-year project. I wanted to do something for a longer duration, so I chose this subject,” begins Bharathan, who did his VisCom at
Loyola College
and has worked on Meesaya Murukku and Natpe Thunai.
The plot of the film involves a kidnapping. “A man kidnaps someone and takes them in a car and what happens when another person hitches a ride in the vehicle,” he informs.
Talking about the challenges of shooting this film, Bharathan says, “It is easier to do a film set in a single location, but this was challenging because we were shooting in a moving car. We initially did not have an idea on how to approach. How to ensure that the cinematographer’s reflection doesn’t appear in the frame, how to not obstruct the actors... these were all problems for which we needed to find a solution. And given that this is an indie project, we also had to keep the costs under the budget.”
The film involved just a four-member cast — YouTuber
Hari Baskar
,
Guhan Prakash, who has been part of
Hiphop Adhi
’s films, and theatre artistes
Pallavi Das
and Alexander — the team rehearsed for a week before going to shoot. Arjun Raja, the cinematographer of Hiphop Adhi’s upcoming film
Sivakumarin Sabatham
, who has also worked in Telugu and Kannada films, has shot this short film.
In addition to the awards at festivals, Bharathan says he has been getting great feedback from the viewers as well. “Many are asking us how we shot the film. Even director Dharani called us and appreciated the work of the actors,” he says.
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