The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project

The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project
The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project
	File:The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project Poster1.jpg The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project Poster
Directed by	Srinivas Sunderrajan
Written by	Srinivas Sunderrajan, Vijesh Rajan
Cinematography	Hashim Badani
Edited by	Srinivas Sunderrajan
Music by	Sujil Sukumaran
Production; company	Enterguerrilla Productions
Release date	October 26, 2010;
Running time	75 minutes
Country	Template:Film India
Language	Hindi
Budget	1000 USD$

The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project is a 2010 Indian film produced and directed by independent filmaker Srinivas Sunderrajan. It is a Hindi-English drama-thriller film with English subtitles shot on HDV in Black & White. It is touted as India's first Mumble Core film. The film was shot entirely on location in Mumbai, India. It was be screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival 2010 in the New Faces of Indian Cinema Section on October 26, 2010.

Synopsis

In a bustling office in Mumbai, Kartik Krishnan (Kartik Krishnan) sits behind his desk coding HTML websites when he chances upon a blog on cinema featuring Independent filmmakers. This sparks his intentions to make his own short film, thus leading him to contact Srinivas Sunderrajan (Vishwesh K), an independent filmmaker who had met Kartik's idol and famed director Quentin Tarantino at an international film festival, who in turn agrees to guide Kartik through the process.

As Kartik begins piecing the story, cast and screenplay together, several inexplicable phenomena start emerging in his life including a sinister stalker (D Santosh) dressed in official government clothing; and the sudden appearance of a strange future-telling antique toy.

Troubled with these bizarre developments and the unresolved feelings that he harbours for Swara Bhaskar (Swara Bhaskar), his office colleague, Kartik embarks on an extraordinary journey that transcends love, life and logic itself.

Cast

Kartik Krishnan as Kartik Krishnan
Vishwesh K as Srinivas Sunderrajan
Swara Bhaskar as Swara Bhaskar & 'Maya'
D Santosh as 'System'

Production

The film was shot on weekends over nearly a year since most of the actors had day jobs and they could only afford to spare the weekend. Also, since there were no location permits, the cast & crew used to sometimes end up without a location for a week, which meant the shoot had to be shifted to the next week, and so on and so forth. A lot of the 'time stretch' happened because of location unavailability. And when location was ready, the actors would be unavailable due to other commitments. True to guerrilla filmmaking, many a times the extras and the crowd in the frames did not even know that shooting was being done.

At any given point of time, only the director, the cinematographer and the lead actor, and depending on which location was being filmed - the secondary character was present on the sets. Mid-way through shooting the original script, the main location (the protagonist's house) collapsed. One day the building was there, and the next day the third floor caved in on the second. And so the location was cordoned off, even though 60 percent of shooting was still left to be done at that location.

The script was outlined yet completely improvised by the actors with the director often giving the actors a free hand. In keeping with its meta fiction genre - the actors were named in the film what they are in real life and many instances in the film have been based on from real events which transpired between the cast & crew.

The initial edit was done on a borrowed Macbook (in-between shooting days) and later the post production, VFX & Sound Design (Vijesh Rajan) of the film was done in a manic one month time-span on a home computer - so that it could be sent to within several film festivals' deadlines.

Accolades

In Competition, Berlin Asian Hot Shots Film Festival 2010
New Faces, Mumbai International Film Festival 2010
Dramatic Competition, South Asian International Film Festival, New York 2010

External links