Cinematographer Saket Saurabh's upcoming film, River of Love, is a mystery spiritual journey, directed by actor and screenwriter Akash Khurana.
Saket's diverse portfolio includes experimental projects like National Award Winning The Lost Behrupiya, Aadha Chand Tum Rakh Lo (screened at Cannes Film Festival), Naya Pata, Spring Thunder and numerous others.
He's excited to discuss the unique challenges faced during the shooting process on his upcoming mystery spiritual journey, River of Love, directed by Akash, best known for Koi Mil Gya, Baazigar, Aakrosh, Aashqui, Black & White, Kalyug and many more and stars actress Sheetal Menon.
River of Love has garnered significant attention at international film festivals across the globe, receiving over a dozen awards, including Best Director at the Moscow International Film Festival, Best Indie Film at the Chicago Indie Film Festival, among others.
Talking about the film, Saket says, "This film is a spiritual journey, a man who has forgotten his past (Raahi) meets a woman (Swara) who'd rather forget hers. He combines a great power for self-destruction and penitence with a desperate need for dignity. She stoically faces all the odds life throws at her, guarding herself with her devotion to God, ready to unflinchingly brave anything that may come at her. They decide to become fellow travellers on a spiritual journey of discovery. But as one journey is about to end, a more epiphanic one is set to begin."
Sharing about the challenges while shooting the film, he mentioned, "Filming The River of Love was a tough yet beautiful journey as we filmed a man on his quest along the Ganges River. In the cinematography context, a spiritual journey involves careful choices in lighting, composition, colour grading, symbolism, subtext, metaphor, camera movement, and many more elements to convey the inner transformation and introspection of a character."
He further adds, "For our film, we consciously choose to use natural light, even at night, to keep the right mood. Our approach required us to shoot the entire film in a handheld, documentary-style fashion in an original setting in terms of production design, cinematography, and overall look and feel. This was hard because we often had to wait for the perfect lighting. We also had a small team and had to be creative with our equipment. The biggest challenge was capturing everything naturally and poetically, especially in crowded places like Kumbh Mela, without disturbing the surroundings or using fancy sets."