‘To shoot ‘Pondicherry’ on smartphone a creative, not costing decision’

When the Marathi full-length feature “Pondicherry”, shot entirely on a smartphone, had a public screening the other day, there were gasps of surprise in the audience as some viewers saw themselves in the frames.

To record life in the city as it happens with natural light and ambient noise, and with almost documentary-like authenticity, was precisely why a big ticket, national award-winning film-maker like Sachin Kundalkar chose to make “Pondicherry” on a smartphone.

“Choosing the format was not a costing decision but a creative one”, said Mr. Kundalkar, who got the idea for a different visual language that would be more intimate and personal, while coming across a blown-up Kathakali-face hoarding during a drive.

As the man behind films like Nirop (national award/director/2007) and Gandha (national award/screenwriter/2009), he is used to big bang productions that involve huge sets, a lot of men and equipment and traffic blocks to stage scenes. “We didn’t want anything to feel staged so we didn’t have more than 15 people on this project”, he said.

That the roughly two-hour film was made in near-incognito fashion panning an i-Phone across the cobbled paths of the French Boulevard, the Promenade Beach, Cathedrals and wall art-emblazoned streets as it pursued an engaging storyline, is both a testament to the film-maker’s resolve to capture life as it is as a sterling cast’s ability to blend in with the mise en scene.

At the same time, the smartphone format also held a lot of challenges, from light patterns to aperture. “And, however accomplished our cast was, they found it tough initially to switch on their acting persona without the conventional camera-lights-action routine on set when the shoot began in February 2019”, he said.

While the visuals captured by Milind Jog celebrate the pretty Franco-Tamil topography unique to this erstwhile French outpost — so much so that the tourism managers are touting the film as a compelling testimonial in their cause of wooing holidaymakers — the city is very much a character propelling the story in this film.

“Pondicherry” is a family drama revolving around the circumstances of a young Marathi single mother alternating between running a home stay and serving as tour guide to make ends meet. The film features accomplished actors such as Sai Tamhankar, Vaibhav Tatwawadi, Amruta Khanvilkar and Neena Kulkarni and the score is by Debarpito Saha.

Mr. Kundalkar is no stranger to the city or to French language and culture. He has been here as a visitor, studied at Alliance Francaise, Pune and also in his days at the Film and Television Institute of India, undergone training at La Femis, Paris on a scholarship of the French Government to produce a short film “One Cafe Please”.
“Initially, we were planning to shoot in Coorg….but we picked this city because the story required a locale with a multilingual flow and multi-cultural identity”, said Mr. Kundalkar, who co-wrote the story with Tejas Modak, visual artist.

Mr. Kundalkar has been struck by the warmth and hospitality of Puducherrians. And, the response to the screening — a public event at the Ratna Theatre and a show at Alliance Francaise — has been so inspiring that he has plans to take this example forward by setting stories in eight cities across the country.

After a delayed theatrical release, due to the pandemic, the film began streaming on Planet Marathi, an exclusive Marathi OTT platform on March 18.

“As I was telling my audience the other day… this is more than a tribute to a unique city… such films also serve as an archival record of the times and outlive the creator and the contemporary audiences”, said Mr. Kundalkar.