New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) “Selvi” star and producer Anjali Patil says when she set out to make the film, she knew that the story had great promise and its screening at the Busan International Film Festival has only strengthened her conviction in telling stories that matter.
The Tamil-language drama, which revolves around the struggle of caregivers, marks the debut of director Sailesh Rathna Kumar, while Patil, known for her roles in “Delhi in a Day”, “Newton”, “Mirziya”, “Kaala” and “Kaun Pravin Tambe?”, has produced it through her banner Anahat Films.
The film premiered in the Vision Asia category at the ongoing movie gala, held every year in Busan, South Korea.
“It is our director’s first film and I did not realise that having your name as ‘produced by’ has so much weight and value… My friends called me and they were like ‘Oh, we are proud of you’. It makes you feel happy and proud because Busan is one of the biggest festivals. And a lot of great cinema has come out of Busan,” Patil told PTI.
In the film, Patil plays the titular character of Selvi, a home-care worker who grapples with isolation while navigating the challenges of her demanding job after leaving her home to take up gig work.
The film’s story has been co-written by director and cinematographer Bhargav Sridhar, who drew from a personal experience. It has been edited by National Film Award winner A Sreekar Prasad.
“A lot of collaborators came on board. I begged them, saying, ‘Trust me, you will be proud of this one.’ As a producer, it gives you credibility with the people you have brought on board. It also creates a sense of responsibility towards those who come on board next. You have to keep at it, which is a good kind of pressure, I would say.”
The 39-year-old actor said she moved towards production alongside acting to have a greater creative control. She is also working on her directorial debut while collaborating with like-minded creative people through her banner.
“It was a very simple desire, actually, to have a lot of creative independence.
And not just for myself, but for many others like me. And find friendships while making this entire process more sustainable. Filmmaking, as we all are quite aware, could be very challenging and it’s an exploitative industry. And we kind of lose hope and faith and friendships along the way. So how do we not lose that? To somehow retain that innocence within us is why I started Anahat Films.”
Patil said the company works like a cooperative system where they make films or support filmmakers who want to make a certain kind of film.
When the director and cinematographer came up with the story, she was excited as it matched their vision of the kind of stories they wanted to make.
“And then, very slyly, I asked them whether I could play this role. They were like, ‘Of course, we were thinking of you, why not? But, honestly, the first few films which I produced, I was really trying to prove that I am a serious producer. And I’m not one of those actors who wants to be a producer and star in their own films.”
The role was challenging as it explores the mind space of someone who is supposed to stay hidden, she said.
“There are a lot of things that can happen with and around caregivers… They’re not supposed to come in front of your eyes. They’re supposed to come do their job and go away. And it’s tricky, it’s not a service industry where they’re like, ‘oh, they can just do their job and then you can read’,” she added.
According to Patil, caregivers are sometimes not even treated with compassion.
“Honestly, a lot of people look at them as the service providers. And their exhaustion is just not accounted for. We don’t have films which go into their psychological landscape, into this exhaustion or into the migration aspect of it that all of them leave behind their families in two-tier, three-tier cities or villages to care for the other people,” she said.
Post “Selvi”, Patil will feature in a speculative sci-fi project that she has been fine tuning for the last six years.
“It’s called ‘Average Girl’ and that would be my directorial debut. It’s a very quirky, funny film of a yes girl of the family and, and we are developing Sailesh’s second feature. Bhargav, our DOP, is writing and developing a film called ‘Goliath’.
“Then there is a documentary called ‘O Believers’, which is on female priests in Hindu and Islam religion. It is directed by Nazia Khan, a cinematographer who is a close friend of mine.
With her film as well as Anupurna Roy’s “Lovers in the Blue Light” and Rima Das’ “Not a Hero” screening in Busan, Patil said it is a great time to be a filmmaker.
“Rima has been such a champion and she does everything by herself, like camera, editing, producing, and then putting it out there on the global market, film after film… These are not simple, doable achievements. I think it’s just the women realizing that they could actually do a lot. And also in the past seven- eight years, filmmaking has become more accessible. It’s not a rich person’s dream any more.
“Same with Anuparna, she’s a self-made, self-taught filmmaker. And Indie gives you that space that you don’t need to put in so many chips on the line, you can make a really cool, good film with like-minded people who get their money from commercial stuff,” Patil said. PTI BK RB
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