Harkat, Mumbai
You're here because you got the postcard we sent. This is our 'untitled' film's page of curiosities. Feel free to grab elements and drag them around. Maybe something new reveals itself. Scroll down and read. This will keep evolving as we go. We'll send you an update on substack anyway.
Dec 15, 2024
If objects are the ornamentation of space, music is the decoration of time.
The music of a space
When you’re making a film set in a space, it’s perhaps most important to find out what it sounds like. I always feel there is a musicality to every space one enters. Like background music embedded in the walls. But, the cacophony of a *production* sometimes obscures it and doesn’t let you just plainly listen. (yes, lots of lessons learnt in choosing the right size of collaborators and operating in gentler environments) But, blessings come in different forms; or maybe we just make the best of the situation we are in. I’m having to rely on my memory of the house I know so intimately now, the afternoons one has spent just idling there; to bring some truth to the sound of that house. To just listen deeply.
Here are some themes for the film that have evolved. They’re both lovely in some way. They have their strands of truth. And they make me see the eyes of the son in some scenes. A note or two even takes me back to my own childhood.
I would have put a poll here but that feels like a competition between music pieces and art shouldn’t compete with itself. So, if you find muse, reply to the email that came with this and let me know what you think. Or if you fall in love with any piece, send a big heart. All pieces are composed by the wonderful Japji Singh Valecha.
Love, Karan
Love, Karan
पहला अध्याय, पहला आघात
There is so much padding we often do on our own work. To make it seem like something with depth, some more meaning than intended - possibly to generate a little more interest from a few more people. In all this, one often forgets or obscures why we got attracted to this story in the first place. More than often, I’ve found one is just trying to make sense of their own situations for themselves. Or at least, that’s what I am always trying to do. It’s an expensive undertaking. One could also say that going to therapy would be cheaper and maybe even more effective. But, no, we choose to make films.
The source of this film arises from just a few scattered memories. So much so that the working title of the film for very long was ‘kuch bikhri yaadein’. One such memory is of idle summer afternoons in Delhi. There is a peculiar warmth in the air, a fan creaks, the dryness enhances all the smells - of oil in hair, of dusty mattresses, and cheap wooden furniture. My strongest memory is probably just daydreaming while trying to catch swirling dust particles caught between streaks of sun rays. The most poignant holder of memories are objects. Things that remind us of a life lived. And this has possibly been the biggest challenge. Of how to make objects speak, without actually doing a show and tell. Each crack tells a story, each crevice a testament to a time. How is it cinematically translatable. And that’s probably why me and Sheba (co-writer) took years to put together a script that gracefully dealt with objects and our collective memories.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll attempt to get different people attached to the film to share their thoughts and process. The idea is to acknowledge a world of the film outside of the film. Because even films can be very limiting sometimes. What you can expect is insights, poetry, love, life of an indie film and to walk a few steps of the journey with us. Imagine being part of an intimate evening with Harkat peeps. Some of us don’t talk to each other anymore and have scattered, so we will also try to bring them into the fray.
In the coming months, we will bank on your support and comfort as we try to bring the film into the world. The complications of all that are another post altogether. But for now, it's just slowly finishing the film. Writing some lyrics. Finding a title. Coloring it up. And more... It's exciting and I sometimes wish this was a public performance that everyone could witness and be part of. Maybe that's what one is trying to do here.
Love, Karan