By: Vidal D’Costa –
While I was thoroughly impressed by the selections at this year’s Bangalore International Short Film Festival (BISFF), India’s only Oscar qualifying festival, one short film that stood out with its riveting visual storytelling and unapologetic nature in addressing taboo topics was Sanjai Chandrasekaran’s Tamil short, Canvas. In this interview, the filmmaker opens up about his journey so far, his creative process, and the importance of providing a much-needed canvas to present social issues through cinema.
Could you share with readers about your background as a filmmaker?
-I actually have a master’s degree in Biotechnology; academically I am from a science background but due to my interest in film-making and direction I began pursuing it during my under graduation as a hobby. I pursued a Diploma in Film Making from L V Prasad Institute Chennai and til now I have made 6 films, out of which the latter 3 have a professional touch.
Who are your biggest inspirations in the film industry, filmmakers whom you learn from or whose films have left their mark on you?
-I have many favorites from the Tamil film industry, especially Vetrimaran sir, Maniratnam sir, and P.A Ranjith sir, as their movies are rooted and connected to nature. Specifically the glossy frames from Mani Ratnam sir’s movies which gives a sense of sensitivity to the film while connecting the emotions of a movie with nature, whereas the movies of Vetrimaran and P.A Ranjith sir come across as more rooted. Apart from Tamil film industry, I also like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rajkumar Hirani, and Christopher Nolan. What I admire in Christopher Nolan’s work is the way he explores the genres within his comfort zone. And last but not the least, I’m an admirer of Kamal Hassan sir’s direction as it never fails in leaving me amazed at how each scene has a deep-rooted meaning which sets his filmmaking and storytelling apart.
Could you also guide us through your creative process? I’d especially love to know more about the research involved in your latest short film ‘Canvas’ since it is centered around the sensitive topic of casteism.
-The initial thought or idea of Canvas was weaving multiple stories into one while simultaneously interlacing the lives of two budding artists who confront their own situations, but with common thread or knot that binds them, and hence I chose two different artists of a similar background such as a Terukkuttu artist and a movie artist who are both connected despite their separate or different timelines. I specifically chose the makeup room for the movie since it brings out the raw emotions and struggles of the artists and how they transform themselves for the real to reel life before their play.
As I was searching for the thread/knot to tie both the scenarios together, my friend Prudhvi and other teammates did an extensive research on the scenarios and struggles of olden times which also made me realize a lot of struggles that I was previously not even aware of. This eventually resulted in us also deciding on the knot for this movie I.e., the canvas shoes.
There are actually three layers in this movie: The first layer talks about the lives of two artists, the second layer reveals about the bonding between a father and son and also the shoes, and finally the third layer, which talks about why the shoes were not given to the son. I also wanted the audience to notice the resounding dialogues in the beginning of the movie which talks about the life of Duryodhana which has a major significance in the movie as well. So basically the idea of casteism is just a small fraction of this movie, but my major focus was to show different stories through the imagery of Canvas.
Did you face any hardships while filming ‘Canvas’ and if so, how were you able to overcome or handle the same?
-As compared to my previous movies, there were not too many hardships during filming, so I can say that it was pretty smooth. The only challenge that we faced was the time constraint, with regards to the call sheet of M.S Bhaskar sir (who plays the Terukkuttu artist in Canvas), as we were supposed to shoot the movie in 2 days and his scenes within one day, including morning and night shoots in which he had to shift between a makeup and non-makeup look for his role . But with professionalism and guidance, the shooting went gracefully and according to the schedule. I faced a few difficulties in pre-production, but the post-production phase went smoothly.
Many filmmakers I’ve talked to in the past have spoken about how they treat the filmmaking process as teamwork and overall a collaborative effort. Were you also open to pointers or creative input from the rest of the crew members or from the cast that you then incorporated into the short film?
-As you said, the film-making process is a teamwork, and most of the crew members of our team are my friends from college. It still surprises me with how much they support and guide me through my projects selflessly. For example, the writers for this movie- Chandrika, Prudhvi etc, are all my college friends who have been supporting me from my college days, so it was not a big problem for me to share and explain to them my thoughts and ideas for Canvas as they knew me very well and thus, they knew what I wanted to convey through it.
Our cinematographer Karthik Sippy has experience in the Tamil film industry as an assistant to renowned cinematographer Balasubramaniyam sir and was very cooperative and guided us well. All these people made it a smooth experience for me to shoot Canvas.
While researching, I received many pointers from my crew since I wanted to know the thought process of different people with respect to a scene and that at times deviated from the script or from the main topic, so I took one point at a time and developed it into an idea which proved very efficient while developing the script further. I think what matters the most is the outcome of the movie, hence I genuinely appreciate my friends for giving me pointers for my projects.
I also want to mention that M.S Bhaaskar sir improvised his dialogues during his scenes after discussing it with me and this was yet another added advantage to the movie. He arrived prepared on set and did his homework by watching many movies related to Terukkuttu which made my work easier, so I genuinely appreciate the efforts he put in.
Are there any genres that you wish to dabble in further down the line?
-Til now I have only explored the genres of thriller and narrative dramas, so I really hope to work on action and romantic comedies in my upcoming projects, of course, which will also dwell on pertinent, meaningful, and rooted topics.
Lastly, could you share any details regarding your future works that audiences can look forward to?
-We are presently in the pre-production phase for our next upcoming project which is basically a sport drama focused on cricket as our main subject, and again we implied a multi-phase storytelling. It’s going to be an inspirational short film. Apart from this, we are planning on a crime-thriller featured film which is still in its script development stage. Many other projects are also in the list, but right now we decided to focus on these at the moment.
Canvas is still going strong and has won awards/traveled to the following festivals: Bengaluru International Short Film Festival – 2023 (BISFF), India’s only Oscar Qualifying Festival, Mumbai Indie-Film Festival, Short Shot Fest (Moscow), The Corner Seats International Film Festival, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, Festival del Cinema di Cefalù, Karnataka Youth International Short Film Festival, Student World Impact Film Festival, AltFF Alternative Film Festival, Madras Independent Film Festival, The French Duck Film Festival, Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions Hosted by @LiftOffGlobalNetwork, RTF Realtime International Film Festival, Chennai International Documentary and Short Film festival, and Idlewild International Film Festival’. Cheers to Mr. Chandrasekaran and his team for the road ahead!
