Twenty-two-year-old filmmaker Karen Kshiti Suvarna’s debut feature film September 21 will screen at the Marché du Film/ Film Market section at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Shot in Hindi and Kannada, the film focuses on an Alzheimer’s patient and the role of caregivers. The director took t2 through the project that stars Priyanka Upendra and Pravin Singh Sisodia in the lead.
THE CANNES STORY
My debut feature film is going to Cannes and I am so excited to be visiting the film festival for the first time since it is one of the most prestigious ones in the world. It is also very overwhelming. I am falling short of words to describe how I am feeling. It is pretty surreal.
Whoever has been to Cannes has told me that it is a very overwhelming experience, especially for the first few days, and I am really looking forward to that.
THE ORIGIN
For my debut feature, I wanted something that would impart a message... I didn’t want it to have a typical story. I wanted the audience to feel: “Okay, that is my story being told”. When I met the writer of the film, Raj Shekhar, he told me about a very genuine story that he had experienced in his life firsthand. He was a caregiver of an Alzheimer-afflicted person. It was a very heart-touching story.
When I started my research on the subject, I visited care centres and realised that there is a lack of information in general about this condition. That made me feel that this is the right story for me to tell. It intrigued me and felt like one I would want to tell the world.
THE PROCESS
Zeroing in on this topic was one of the toughest things we had to work on. One can’t take creative liberty with a subject like this... you have to show facts, you can’t fabricate anything. It is a very sensitive and mature topic to deal with. It was very new to me and I needed to be confident that I could handle it. That was a tricky mix to pull off.
Pravin Sisodia was the first actor I narrated the lead role to. I wanted my artistes to feel the film in the same manner as I do, and Pravin sir did exactly that. He cried during the narration. He also gave a lot of inputs at the narration table. He was involved from the get-go.
This is a very different role for Priyanka ma’am (Priyanka Upendra). I was apprehensive whether she would accept the role... I am just 22 and I wasn’t sure whether she would want to work with me as a director. But she welcomed the script with open arms and she has given a lot to this role. She was more than ready to go deglam... on screen, you will see her character and not Priyanka ma’am the actor.
Amit Behl completely suits his character. He is jovial by nature and so is the character he plays. He is a perfect fit. He plays a very emotional caregiver and he has played the part really well. Ajit Shidhaye plays a doctor and also the childhood friend of the main character, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. He is emotionally connected to him, but, being a doctor, he has to practically take decisions as well.
Ricky Rudra is a debutant actor. He plays the son of the protagonist and he has brought in a lot of layers to his character. He is Gen Z in his thinking but also has an emotional connect with his father.
HER INSPIRATIONS
Imtiaz Ali is a big inspiration. I like Tamasha and Rockstar, and Jab We Met is an all-time favourite. Anurag Kashyap is widely praised for Dev.D and Gangs of Wasseypur, but one film I look up to him for is Choked. According to me, it is a very underrated film and is a simple story told with impact. In Kannada films, I like the work of Upendra.