The youngest Indian filmmaker at Cannes

Brut India

All of 30, Yudhajit Basu and his short film on periods are making big waves at Cannes 2023. The young filmmaker told Brut how he wrote the film from a female point of view.

Transcript

00:00I'm here at Cannes with my diploma film from FTII called Nehemetz, which is in official

00:14selection at LASNIF.

00:26Yes it's the only official entry from India in Cannes in competition.

00:41I came to know of this Gaonkar Pratha in Maharashtra where women are isolated during their menstruation

00:48period and that it's a taboo, they don't even refer to the word period, they have a code

00:52language in Marathi called Malakaurana Shivla, which means, which if you translate to English

00:57it would mean I've been touched by a crow.

01:00So this phrase was the starting point of the film.

01:03We went through during the pandemic that we were isolated, we couldn't move out and we

01:07were COVID infected, they were like untouchables.

01:10So it was a remarkable, quite unique experience for the human race, but for these women in

01:15the villages of Maharashtra, this was happening to them every month while they were having

01:21their periods, they would be isolated from the world.

01:24So what was very unique for the entire world, for these women, it was regular affair.

01:29So these two things I felt would go well with the film, which is why I decided to tell the

01:35story at the backdrop of the pandemic.

01:49It was very difficult for me because I was trying to tell a story of a girl by being

01:55a man myself.

01:56And I remember before writing the script, I had lots of conversation with Anjali and

02:01other village women, and I was all cross-checking all the time that the lines that I'm writing

02:06or the way I'm showing, is it like, is it how you also feel like that way?

02:15I understood it's not my cup of tea, I gave it up.

02:17I joined Senzevier's Kolkata in mass communication and videography.

02:25We made two short films in Nepali called Kuiro and Khoji.

02:32It shaped up my understanding of cinema and yeah, that's how it has been.

02:38But I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be into filmmaking.

02:46It's this section, since it's meant for film school students.

02:49There's just one website where you upload the film.

02:52Like I finished the film in Jan-end.

02:55My main goal was to meet the Cannes deadline, which is 15th Feb.

02:58So I finished it, I uploaded it on the website, and on 8th March I got a lovely email from the artistic director

03:05saying that my film has been selected.

03:11One very literal meaning will be always.

03:14Another, a little poetic meaning would be eternal, or maybe for all the remaining time.

03:19Because it's such a poetic word in Maharashtra, which has no particular English translation,

03:26I decided to keep it as Nehevich and let people know the film.

03:46There had always been like that.

03:48I mean, glamour had always been a part of cinema.

03:51So I can't say.

03:52But of course, because Festival of Cannes is basically for celebrating world cinema,

03:58it's not a fashion show.

Category

Transcript

Recommended