Mumbai, Nov 28 (PTI) Filmmaker Suruchi Sharma says through her short film "Gagan Gaman", she wanted to present an insider look at the pink city of Jaipur, which is beautiful, romantic and inspiring, yet "extremely restrictive and patriarchal".
The film, which has been screened at various film festivals, including in Mumbai and Dharamshala, offers a look at a woman’s journey through a world infused with mythology and mystery.
Along the way, she encounters enigmatic individuals, lovers, puzzles, and even a goddess, all of which lead her to a new perspective on life.
Suruchi, who hails from Jaipur, said she wanted to make a film about the city with all its beauty and complexity for a long time.
"I love this city and I see it in its wholeness, which is very beautiful from the outside yet it is very dark and complicated from the inside. That's how I feel it is. I'm trying to kind of put that out for the world," the director told PTI in an interview.
Not just Jaipur, Sharma said she has extensively travelled in Rajasthan and found its culture to be restrictive for women.
"There has been a lot of music, culture, rituals, and traditions around me. There is this contradictory world and it took me some time to kind of uncover this. It is very romantic and inspiring but at the same time it's extremely restrictive and patriarchal. So, I've found my way to exist in this environment over time."
As a woman, she said her teenage years were particularly difficult and she struggled to "be a part of extracurricular activities".
"I started doing theatre, started doing some odd jobs after school and that became a problem for my relatives. So, everything had to be commented upon. There is immense pressure on the mother to kind of do the right thing in the face of society. So, my mom and I had the most complicated relationship over those years, which has completely mended over time, and I'm very grateful for that."
Sharma, who earlier documented the cultural diversity of Rajasthan through films like “Utsav”, “Of Love & Artistry”, and “Meen Raag”, said the complicated structure of the society in Rajasthan overpowers all the women.
"I feel sorry for it but I'm also seeing that we are kind of coming out of it. The question, however, remains -- do we want to just completely cut ourselves off from our roots because it's of this nature or do we want to hold on to some kind of wisdom or the beauty that it gives us, and then maybe find freedom with that anchor in someplace? I think that's something we can reflect upon as women of the current times," she added.
For Sharma, who is the founder of production house Studio Ainak, the idea of freedom is paramount.
While many in the film industry chase money or fame, the director said she pursues the freedom to express herself without constraint.
“What we are doing in general is to make money, and money is giving us freedom that we can do what we want to. I don’t have money but I’ve freedom right now and that's what makes me happy.
"The fact that I've chosen to not live in Bombay, be in Jaipur or do my independent work, have my studio. For me, autonomy is the most important thing,” said the director, who did her master’s in filmmaking from the National Institute of Design (NID).
Sharma said she wanted to make a Rajasthan-set feature film for a long time but struggled with the story.
During this time, she started an annual residential screenwriters' mentoring program called - Rewrite.
"I kind of forced everything in my environment to allow me to make a fiction film because I've been making documentary films for the past six to seven years, and once you start doing one form of work, you start kind of being branded in that. So, I didn't want to do that."
Coming up with the right story took the longest time and she eventually discussed it with Prakash Mishra, one of the mentors at Rewrite.
"He gave me some beautiful advice, he said, ‘Don't push yourself too hard and maybe your subconscious is not ready for it and that's why you're finding ways to delay the process or because you're in the middle of that plot yourself.'
"I really like that advice and for the first time, I gave myself the freedom to just not work on that script. When that happened and because this desire to make fiction was very strong, I kind of made space and this film naturally came out to me."
Post the film's festival run, the director is now scouting for a distributor to release “Gagan Gaman”.
"We are pitching the film as part of Film Bazaar Recommends at IFFI, Goa. These are things that I'm not sure I’ve more command over, my job was to make this film and I've done that with all my integrity and heart," she said.
"Gagan Gaman" features Gavari Devi Rao, Jeevani Devi, Subrata Parashar, Pankaj Sharma and Bhawani Singh.