Raam Reddy's next to be based on magical realism

Filmmaker Raam Reddy, who received several international honours for his directorial venture "Thithi", says his next project will be based on "magical realism" -- a genre which has not been explored much in filmmaking.

"In 'Thithi', the starting point was the place. For my next film, the starting point is its genre. I want to make a magic realism film. It's a very realistic film with magic. It will be treated in a realistic way," Reddy told IANS on the sidelines of the fifth Dharamshala International Film Festival, where "Thithi" was the opening film.

Talking about his next directorial venture, he said: "There are a lot of authors from Latin America, who used magical realism as a staple in literature. But it is not well explored in cinema. Eastern or European cinema has explored it, but not so much. So I am keen on doing that."

Reddy notes that the "film will be a fictional one".

"It will be from my own ideas and imagination. I am going to write the film myself. 'Thithi' producers are ready to work with me again. So, I have a very big base now to work on a bigger professional project," he added.

"Thithi", which won honours at 68th Locarno International Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, 19th Shanghai International Film Festival and 63rd National Film Awards, is a dramatic comedy about how three generations of sons react to the death of the oldest in their clan, a man named Century Gowda -- a locally renowned, highly cantankerous 101-year-old man.

The film, which has been extensively shot in the Nodekoppalu village in the Mandya district of Karnataka, features non-actors in the lead.

"Before coming up with the story of 'Thithi', the idea was to make an authentic film with non-actors. I was keen to work with multiple generations. I have done a lot of documentaries with non-actors. I wanted to explore making a film that had a very rooted soul," Reddy said.

"To keep the idea of authenticity as key, we decided to shoot with non-actors...We wanted them to understand the story really well. So, if you will try to do it with actors, then it would look as an imitation of something that already exists," he added.

However, Reddy said for his next project he is looking forward to work with actors.

"I am keen on working with actors too. I don't think 'Thithi' would have worked with actual actors at all. However, I am right now working on a script for which I will look forward to work with actors. It depends on what your intentions are. It all depends on the story of the film," he said.

(The writer's trip to Dharamsala is at the invitation of the Dharamshala International Film Festival organisers. Sandeep Sharma can be contacted at sandeep.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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