Rupsha Guha’s film How Are You Feroz?, which is playing in theatres now, tells the story of an antique art dealer who is at a crossroads to decide whether the antiques in his possession are transactional objects for his business or an essential part of his being. His emotional journey mirrors his deep connection to art, following a path of unrequited love, a fear of loss, and the eventual discovery of reciprocity. The story is woven primarily as a response to the question ‘How are you Feroz?’, the first line of a letter, which incidentally is also the name of the film. A t2 chat with Rupsha about the film, starring Schiraaz Tanksalwalla, Aryann Bhowmik, Ratasree Dutta, Ashoke Viswanathan, Anusha Viswanathan, Kheya Chattopadhyay and Rana Basu Thakur...
Did you write and receive a lot of letters growing up?
During my younger days, I would often see my late grandma receive letters and engage in correspondence with her relatives, friends and associates. Postcards and envelopes would be neatly arranged on one side of her writing desk, sometimes on one side of the bed. She wrote her memoirs titled Amriter Pothe, which was published in 1984. Now and then, she would call us and read out excerpts from some of those letters. We would listen with rapt attention and let our childish imagination do the rest. Maybe all these sowed the seeds of love for epistles in my psyche, now bearing fruition.
Have there been any revelations about what people choose to write about?
The physical and personal touch is almost lost. People choose to write about issues that matter to them. I have never received anything other than letters on professional or official matters. It is primarily information, reminders or notifications. Technology is both a boon and a curse.
Why did you feel it was necessary to tell this story?
I feel that it was necessary and highly relevant to these times to tell the story of a man who values certain emotions over money. An antique art collector and trader by profession, rather a connoisseur of art who ultimately comes to such a point that he can no longer part ways and let go of the pieces that he has so carefully curated over all these years, even for a “good” price. And his sense of attachment to those pieces ultimately becomes so morbid that he in the end “becomes” a part of it. It’s a unique story narrated in a very non-linear fashion. It brings about a certain touch of warmth, empathy and humaneness in this ultramodern consumerist society and milieu where everything has a so-called “price tag” attached to it.
How Are You Feroz? started off as a featurette but turned into a film. How did you work on the shoot of the film?
Initially, I wanted to make a short film in English, which turned into a featurette. But due to issues with its duration, it neither qualified as a short film nor a full-length feature film. But since length was hardly my concern, I believed that certain elements were missing. So I kept shooting more material and incorporated more characters into the storyline; they assumed a life of their own. So I kept shooting and further developing the film until I felt convinced that I had made a film to my liking with an open-ended conclusion. And much like our own lives, which really have no completion or conclusion, a film too has no real ending metaphorically until one decides to keep it open to all kinds of interpretations by one’s target audience with a high emotional and intellectual quotient. I shot the film in bits and parts whenever I had the opportunity or availability for the camera, cast and technicians. That is why the whole process was very cumbersome and took about three years to make.
What is the genesis of this film?
The origin was space. I went to the house of an antique dealer. There were so many contradictory and conflicting stories in the art pieces that have no substitute. Almost everyone has felt a sensory relation with objects which have travelled through time. This relation has always attracted and intrigued me, and I wanted to explore that through my narrative.
The moment I met the antique art dealer Schiraaz, I was struck by the passion and verve with which he told me stories about his possessions. Which led me to question — does he really want to sell? That was the trigger for the story. The main protagonist, Feroz, is based on this man, but the narrative largely is a figment of my imagination.
Why turn to direction?
Direction has a bit of everything I have always loved. It has performance, storyline, poetry, music, a visual narrative and photography. And of course, lights, camera and action. From a young age, I have been exposed to all kinds of cinema. It was not just the acting but the overall thematics. When reality becomes oppressive at times, it becomes necessary to take some kind of refuge in a make-believe world.
I consider myself an actor first and as an actor I have experienced many narratives play out through me. It was natural that those experiences would create a desire to create narratives in their wake. As a director, I wanted to give voice to those traces of narratives which had already, unknown to me, become a part of my subconscious. I wanted to share my imagination with everyone.