A curious group of people has gathered around the lake. They lean in, look warily and start talking in hushed tones. The conversations of this group of strangers revolves around a dead crocodile.
For 27-year-old filmmaker Prantik Basu, the green, slimy creature has always exuded a mysterious aura. “I heard about an incident in Powai, Mumbai, where the carcass of a crocodile had floated up to the bank of a lake and caused quite a stir. That bit of news got me thinking,” says the Kolkata-based director, who passed out of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, in February. Makara, his 20-minute diploma film, is going to be featured in the Indian Panorama section of this year’s International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.
Makara revolves around an incident when a bloated crocodile carcass is found floating on a man-made lake situated at the heart of a metropolis. This event draws curious attention and calls for a momentary gathering of people from different walks of life. “The film is an attempt to travel from real to mythical with the oral tradition of story telling,” says Basu. He explains that the film progresses through conversations between the villagers, bystanders and other passers-by. “With reference to different folklore and traditions they talk about the crocodile as a mythical creature,” says Basu.
The film was shot in the campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Powai, in just under five days. “My idea of the story was a little sketchy and fluid to begin with. The script developed as we went along,” says Basu. He adds that they had gone location-scouting in Mumbai during the pre-monsoon showers and by the time they started the actual shoot, it was raining heavily. “The locations we had selected for the shoot were under water by then. So we had to improvise,” he says.
Interestingly, many members of the cast in Makara were curious by-standers, who wandered in to look at the shooting. “It was as if life was imitating my story,” says Basu. “When we saw people walking in, we asked them if they would like to be a part of the film. And many of them agreed. At the end of the day, we are trying to show the fragile balance between man and nature and how they are dependent on each other,” says Basu. His first film Ek, Do, which he had made during his stint at the FTII, had won the National Award for Best Audiography and the Best Short Fiction Film award at Kalpanirjhar, Kolkata.
Back in Kolkata now, Basu is busy researching for another film. “It is still in a very nascent stage, and I am looking forward to making the film as independently as possible, so that I can have maximum creative control,” he says.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-legend-of-crocs/1186539/0
Picture source: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7106/7676138264_813d78683c_z.jpg
