He was barely 17 when his first short film The Day after Tomorrow got a standing ovation at MAMI festival in Mumbai. Since then, young filmmaker Abhiroop Basu has been quietly making impressively hard-hitting shorts in succession be it Afternoon with Julia, The Paperman, Meal starring the talented Adil Hussain, or Laali starring the inimitable Pankaj Tripathi. In fact, Meal is the first Indian movie to make it to the Oscar-qualifying short film festival Odense International Film Festival in Denmark, one of the biggest short film festivals in Europe.
Though the last two years saw many projects being shelved, Abhiroop never gave up and continued churning unique plots for the audience and has readied a line-up of shorts waiting for release including Rhino, Gudiya, Gudgudi, and Lipstick.
We talk to Abhiroop to understand his process of filmmaking and get inside the mind of a millennial indie filmmaker.
How hectic has been 2022? Tell us how the space is growing for shorts?
I'd say 2022 has been very constructive and creatively satisfying. The goal has always been to be busier than I was yesterday and 2022 has been kind.
There isn't really any market for shorts in India. There is hardly any scope of getting the money back that you invest in making a short professionally unless it caters to extreme popular taste which makes the entire idea behind short films redundant. And even then there is no definite ecosystem that guarantees a return, so there cannot be any growth.
Do you plan to make a full-length feature anytime soon?
Just finished the first draft this week. I have been developing it for the past few months with a popular studio in Mumbai and now the hunt for actors begins!
What are the innovations happening in the indie filmmaking scene?
Nothing from India has really caught my eye. Bangladesh has been really at it I think since the past few years, subverting genres while keeping things rooted. Moshari, for example, is a short film from Bangladesh that's now making its way to the Oscars backed by people like Riz Ahmed and Jordan Peele.
What have been your learning experiences as a young maker?
The biggest takeaway has been to accept the fact that you are never in control and irrespective of how good you think you are, you cannot be the hero of the story all the time. So one has to navigate ways and a system that allows you to control what you can and let the variables be. Making films is a lot like Waiting for Godot.
What motivates you and what are the ways you learn and upgrade yourself?
Finding motivation is the hardest challenge for someone like me. I have had my share of fighting acute depression and it has taken me a while to be back in a space where the body again starts listening to the mind. It's important to keep sharpening the tools from time to time and I try to do that. Making these shorts help. I follow a strict film viewing routine, I keep track of new voices in world cinema, and I read screenplays.
What are your 2023 plans?
I am excited to meet new people and I think, after a long time, I am ready to welcome strangers and travellers in my life.
Workwise, I am shooting a series from April, followed by the feature during the end of the year. And hopefully, these shorts will also see the light of day!