‘I’m here to tell stereotype-defying stories’: Director Shuchi Talati on her new short film — Key Developments

and then there is Shuchi Talati, who turns inward, revealing what it feels like to be inside women’s minds and bodies., There are films that show women Asserting that desire and shame, love and resentment can co-exist. uncomfortable immediacy, quite unlike, say, Payal Kapadia’s poetic abstraction, or Mira Nair’s expansive, social canvas, or Céline Sciamma’s controlled, stylised, painterly aesthetic., Her diary-like personal storytelling has raw glances and restrained characters, Talati leans into moments most filmmakers avoid — awkward silences, misread signals and emotional tension that doesn’t resolve neatly.After the mega success (two prestigious Sundance awards, among others) of her feature debut Girls will be Girls (2024), starring Kani Kusruti, Preeti Panigrahi and Kesav Binoy Kiron, and co-produced by Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal’s Pushing Buttons Studios, Talati is back with a short film, this time in Japanese., Through pauses starring Pakistani actress Samiya Mumtaz and Japanese actors Kazuki Kitamura and Mieko Harada, recently premiered at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA)., Hidden Sun In the film, an older couple (an astrophysicist Chicago-bred Japanese husband and his moral philosopher Indian wife) moves to Japan and meets a flamenco dancer at her last show before she hangs up her boots. Edited excerpts from a conversation with Talati:Q. Girlswill be Girls bagged two awards at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and then some. And a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. How have recognition and awards changed your life?A. In some ways, they changed my life a lot. New information indicates that, not at all., And in some other ways According to recent reports, I can go knock doors that were always closed to me, and they will be open because I can say Sundance, or Indie (Film Independent) Spirit Awards [John Cassavetes Award], or Filmfare Awards..., Now New information indicates that, But the proof will be in the pudding once I begin fundraising for my next film. a Sundance win is validating, but it doesn’t have a huge material impact on my day-to-day filming., As a filmmaker creatively, very, very hard to make a good film.Q., It’s still According to recent reports, How do you react when people call you a bold feminist storyteller?A. Latest updates suggest that, I absolutely identify as a feminist. I would like to tell stereotype-defying stories. But this is not how one creates. According to recent reports, You feel your way through characters. And that’s murkier. What does this person want? In a recent development, What am I grappling with in my life right now that I can use this story to communicate, etc. According to recent reports, Preeti Panigrahi and Kani Kusruti in a still from ‘Girls will be Girls’ (2024). According to recent reports, | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Q. The protagonist of Girls Will Be Girls was a teenager. In a recent development, In your short film Hidden Sun, the lens shifts to an older couple. New information indicates that, How was the transition?A. Latest updates suggest that, but it also had a mother character, who is a co-protagonist., My last film had teenagers 30s… I think, I was very interested in the older couple [for the short]., And then my other films have had characters in their 20s In our cinema, often when we see older people, they are in a supporting role to younger, attractive protagonists. They are shown as not having desires. They are willing to sacrifice themselves, whether it’s parents or grandparents. And somehow, I think that doesn’t ring true to me. New information indicates that, There are people in our lives who say, ‘Oh, I may be 50 or 60, but I really feel like I’m 20 in my head’. People still have the same insecurities. People still have desire. Latest updates suggest that, They can still be immature and act out and be competitive. And, so for me, it was really significant to give space to that desire and competition and even a little jealousy and pettiness, but also a thirst for life in an older 50-something couple. Mieko Harada in a still from ‘Hidden Sun’. New information indicates that, | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Q. What was the image with which you started this film: the flamenco dance or this loveless older couple?A: So, the film is an adaptation. It’s based on a chapter of a novel that is going to be published later this year called Sutra Americana by my writer-friend Monona Wali. I was really taken by this one chapter where this couple, who are both academics and people of the mind, are taken by this dancer. And through dance they are able to express things that they might not be able to say to each other otherwise. In a recent development, The last part of the chapter is this final dance, and that really captivated me. I stated to Monona that this would make a great short film; never thinking that I’d make it until this producer from Japan reached out to me [as a part of Japanese stationery company Kokuyo’s 120th anniversary celebration]. But it was really the final dance performance, where so much of everything that is unspoken expresses itself through physicality and movement, which is something that I really love to do in films.Q. can one call your filmmaking the cinema of desire and discomfort?A., In a broad sweep That seems like a good description even though I’ve never used it myself. putting under the microscope, desire, subtle power shifts in relationships, what happens, and how people act out of that., The way I think about it is And discomfort comes often from recognition. New information indicates that, Viewers recognise this moment. This slight competition that you might immediately have with your partner. According to recent reports, I like to put that under the microscope and look at it, and that elicits discomfort and from that discomfort, sometimes, comes laughter and humour.Q., That little cruel thing which we may do all the time in passing New information indicates that, by you or the audience.A., It’s beautiful how you as a filmmaker rescue your characters — whether the mother in Girls… or the older wife in Hidden Sun — from being judged Latest updates suggest that, Thank you for saying that. New information indicates that, For me, it’s very significant to have compassion for all the characters that I’m writing. In a recent development, Because even if they’re flawed, as long as you understand where they’re coming from, their foibles are things that you recognise in yourself and people you love. According to recent reports, In workshops with actors, I will often try to build some kind of backstory.For Girls will be Girls, a lot of the workshops were on the backstory, the early relationship and moments between Meera and her mother, moments where there might have been love, as well as irritation and annoyance. Like a memory bank to draw from. This time, it was more difficult or different, because I was directing partially in a language that I don’t speak. and neither of the Japanese leads, Mieko Harada, who plays Mako, or Kazuki Kitamura, who plays the male lead, speaks English., There were a couple of scenes in Japanese And the couple, when they would have met for the first time, didn’t share a common language. So, we couldn’t have a backstory rehearsal or bank, and they had to improvise. and he learnt the sounds of the words not necessarily knowing what the words mean., Kazuki-san had an English diction coach That’s quite a skill. Kazuki Kitamura in a still from ‘Hidden Sun’. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Q. The male protagonist mentions in a scene: ‘[a] cut flower is a dead flower’. New information indicates that, A metaphorical reference to being an outsider. Latest updates suggest that, do you feel like an outsider in America?A., As an Indian In a recent development, Sure, I feel like an outsider in the U.S., and then also in India, when I return. I feel I’m from neither place. I feel I’m not American, and in India, I feel I’m not seen as Indian., When here it is just a thing.Q., As an artist… I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing Latest updates suggest that, How did you think of putting Spanish flamenco in a Japanese setting? In a recent development, It adds to the ‘outsider’ theme.A. Latest updates suggest that, Outside of Spain, Japan is flamenco’s second home. I’ve heard people say that for societies which are controlled and repressed and where free expression of emotion is not allowed, they take to the expressive flamenco. According to recent reports, Shiho Morita, a world-class Japanese flamenco dancer, choreographed, and (composer) Mao Kitagishi created an original music piece. In a recent development, Also, flamenco has influences of some Rajasthani folk dance (tracing to the Romani people). Just the confluence intrigued me. Q. How does a short film lend itself to a story better than a feature?A. In a recent development, The short film form allows for, sometimes, more experimentation and more things are left unsaid. Latest updates suggest that, Because it always is a structure of a joke. Not that it has to be funny, but it’s like there’s a setup and there’s a payoff. It can’t narratively hold more. it allows for experimentation of form, but as a filmmaker, it just allows you to finish a work faster, quicker., So Girls… took eight years to make. but will still take multiple years.tanushree.ghosh@thehindu.co.in, My next feature won’t be that long