The Clean-Sweep Cinema Of Chaitanya Tamhane

Brut India

Do you know the Indian director whose movie won a prestigious award at the Venice Film Festival this year? Meet Chaitanya Tamhane. They say he is only two films old but he’s one of India’s best filmmakers already.

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00:00If you want to walk on this path, learn to be alone and self-sufficient.

00:30I don't know if 33 in today's times is really, really young, you know.

00:49People were wearing masks and people were practicing social distancing, but the energy

00:53and the vibe of Venice as a festival, it was my third time going to Venice, but that energy

00:58was still like intact.

01:08It was like a bit weird and a bit surreal to even believe that this is happening.

01:23Pretty much like a journalist in that sense, you know.

01:26I used to carry a recorder, but then I stopped doing that because I realized that I don't

01:30have to print this anywhere and people don't really open up if they know that they are

01:34being recorded.

01:35So, yeah, I mean, even for this film, I just like started interviewing people, you know,

01:41and just having conversations, developing friendships to get to know their inner worlds,

01:46to get to know what people are struggling with in their fields.

02:16The compliment that I'm waiting for, and this sounds very dramatic and cliched, is

02:38my parents.

02:39They do not understand what I do.

02:41You know, they love the press.

02:43They love to read about me and the film and they're very happy with the awards and all,

02:47but when they watch the films, they are like, you know, in Marathi, they're like,

02:51Yeh kai ke liye is tu, mala kai karat nahi hai chatla type.

02:55So yeah, I am waiting for that compliment.

03:13I met a lot of really cool people there who introduced me to world cinema, you know, who

03:20told me, okay, read Vijay Tendulkar, who said, okay, read Mahesh Elkunchwar, who said, okay,

03:24watch Vankar Vais film, okay, watch, you know, Lars von Trier films.

03:28So I mean, in the most unexpected of places.

03:49So when he saw the finished film, and he, you know, called me and said, Kabron, it's

03:54beautiful.

03:55And, you know, I would love to support it in any possible way.

03:59I think it's great because, you know, it started off as a dialogue between two artists and

04:02it's transformed into a friendship.

04:04I mean, of course, he's like a mentor, a father figure, but he's also like a buddy, you know,

04:10and he's very relaxed and very chill and I yeah, I've learned a lot about, you know,

04:16being a professional filmmaker about what it is to live a filmmaker's life, you know,

04:20the highs, the lows, the temptations on the way and on a purely craft level on a technical

04:27level.

04:28He's expanded my vocabulary as a filmmaker, I've been given this privilege of being in,

04:33you know, touch with him now when I do my own work, I need to, you know, not like blow

04:38it up, you know, and be like, yeh kya kar diya tune types.

04:43When I was watching the world premiere, so I don't watch my films, I don't have the courage.

04:47So I was staring at the floor.

04:49And I was very restless when I looked up a few times for a few minutes.

04:53I was in tears.

04:56Because I was like, oh, man, I could do so much better.

05:00You know, and I told this to Alphonso and he was like, man, if that's what you feel

05:06after making this film, you're one lucky bastard.

05:09For me, it's like the new frontier of storytelling because I don't play like those, you know,

05:21brain dead, kill people kind of game.

05:24They are more like narrative driven games or gave me a lot of ideas.

05:36How one relates to the idea of art or entertainment or even storytelling has splintered into so

05:42many I mean, a vlog is a story or you know, a video game is a story, you know, a board

05:49game is a story or whatever, Tik Tok or whatever, I'm not on this platform, but an Insta story

05:55is a story, you know, so how we associate with emotions, I mean, and it's also so paradoxical

06:02because on one level, you're like, okay, make 30 second videos, because that's what people

06:07want to watch on their phones and move on.

06:08And then also they want to binge watch shows for 10 hours, 18 hours, 20 hours, you know,

06:14without really thinking about it.

06:24Intent, you know, if you have the right intentions, and which requires work, you know, working

06:31on your inner world and working on yourself and your worldview, because that's the only

06:36thing you have to offer as an artist.

06:39So okay, I don't want to sound too like, you know, gyan giving, but for me, I've realized

06:44that it's the intent that matters the most in whatever you're doing.

06:48Everything else falters.

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