Debutant filmmaker Maisam Ali’s film In Retreat, which impressed the audience after its showcase at the Cannes’ ACID Sidebar section, is all set to have its Asian premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, which started two days ago. Maisam, born in Iran and raised in Ladakh, has a hearty chat with us about the film and more.
How excited are you about the film’s premiere in Busan?
It’s a great honour and I feel excited. The film reflects a lot on who I am, my identity, and my familial roots.
The film traces a man’s homecoming and parallelly traces Ladakh’s landscape, showing the city in a different light. What was the idea behind the film?
Various events and incidents inspired me to make this film. For instance, the man's homecoming was based on an incident from my childhood. When I was 12 or 13, I saw a man coming back home after many years, and he tried to strike up conversations with random strangers about how his grandfather and theirs had relatives. He didn’t know any of them but tried to get familiarised with the natives. Further more, Ladakh, like any other city, has its fair share of problems and an underbelly. I didn’t want to showcase Ladakh in the typical scenic and touristic manner, with pretty landscapes or cliché images. Instead, I went with portraying the same through the eyes of this peculiar character who’s traversing the lanes in Ladakh at night after many years.
Harish Khanna played the protagonist in your film. How was it working with him?
I was looking at a couple of actors and zeroed in on him because I could feel his rhythm — it went well with that of the film. I like to work with actors who have an understanding of cinema and who realise it’s a subtle art form rather than dramatic. Harish has that kind of depth and his presence elevated the scenes. He is truly a director’s actor.
What are your learnings as a debutant director?
Preparation time and planning are very important as is the emphasis on sound. We are taught all of this, but we often forget shooting on the ground. Time management is also important. We took 35 to 40 days divided into two schedules and was shot over October and November.
Tell us about your upcoming film.
It’s still in the early stages of development. But it will be something on similar lines, shot around Ladakh and shot in daylight this time. It would be a travel kind of film with more poetry infused in it.