Painting Life

Painting Life[1] is a 2018 Indian English film written and directed by Bijukumar Damodaran commonly known as Dr. Biju. The film jointly produced by Silicon Media[2] and BlueOcean Pictures depicts the experience of a film crew which gets stranded in a remote Himalayan village.

Painting Life
Official poster
Directed byDr. Biju
Produced byUshadevi BS
Written byDr. Biju
StarringPrakash Bare
Geetanjali Thapa
Ritabhari Chakraborty
Shankar Ramakrishnan
Purav Goswami
Ravi Singh
Krishnan Balakrishnan
Noksha Saham
Phuntsok Ladakhi
Meera Vasudevan
Melwyn William
Music byMark Chan
CinematographyM. J. Radhakrishnan
Edited byDavis Manuel
Production
company
Silicon Media & BlueOcean Pictures
Release date
  • October 27, 2018 (2018-10-27) (Hanoi International Film Festival)
Running time
140 minutes
CountryIndia, US
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The crew led by a hit Bollywood filmmaker arrives there to shoot a song and dance sequence for their upcoming blockbuster. Soon they find themselves cut off from the outside world after torrential downpours and landslides. They are trapped with no basic amenities or means of communication and are totally at the mercy of the forces of nature.

The team, having been accustomed only to the breakneck pace and luxury of urban life, struggles to cope with the total isolation and the rough conditions. They are forced to interface closely with nature and the local folk and experience life at a much gentler pace. They also get exposed to the challenges faced by the local people.

For the director, who has been highly successful commercially, cinema is mainly an entertainment business with no connect to the real world or social issues. He saw the valley as merely a picturesque locale for his shoot. Through a series of intense and unforgettable experiences, he begins to see the reality beyond. His eyes open to the travails of the breathtakingly beautiful land and its beleaguered residents. How those eventful days under siege, affect the thoughts and priorities of the filmmaker, both on the personal and filmmaking fronts, forms the central theme of the film.

Cast
  • Prakash Bare as Filmmaker[3]
  • Geetanjali Thapa as Lady in the guest house
  • Shankar Ramakrishnan as Nassar
  • Ritabhari Chakraborty as Actress
  • Meera Vasudev as Wife (Guest appearance)
  • Ravi Singh as Cinematographer
  • Purav Goswami as Associate Director
  • Krishnan Balakrishnan as Asst Director
  • Melwyn Williams as Production Controller
  • Noksha Saham as Hunter
  • Phuntsok Ladakhi as Monk
  • Tensing Lepcha as Hotel boy
  • Kinsong Bhutia as Guesthouse manager
  • Govardhan BK as Hotel boy
  • Yangcho Bhutia as Girl from the village
  • Arjun Subba as Boy from the village

Crew

Painting Life is the first English feature film directed by Dr. Biju, whose earlier eight films have won five national film awards, four Indian panorama selections, thirteen kerala state film awards and many other national and international accolades including selections to reputed film festivals like Cannes, Montreal, Cairo, Iran, Shanghai, Eurasia, Telluride, Jeonju, Tallinn, IFFK, IFFI and NYIFF. His first film Saira premiered in Cannes Film Festival in 2007 under Cinemas of the world section.

M. J. Radhakrishnan, the 7-times winner of Kerala State Film Awards for Best Cinematography, is behind the camera. He is also the recipient of many international accolades including Caméra d'Or for the film Marana Simhasanam (Throne of Death) in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

Renowned Singaporean composer Mark Chan is composing the background score of the film. The sound design, recording and mixing are performed by the National award-winning team of Jayadevan Chakkadath and Pramod Thomas. The film is co-produced by Silicon Media, known for its arthouse productions which have fetched more than 15 Kerala state film awards and many international recognitions including festival selections to Berlin, Montreal, BFI, Durban, Kerala, Trinidad-Tobago etc.

Production

Casting

Painting Life[4] is a truly pan Indian project with a cast and crew from 10 different Indian states. The cast of the film includes Prakash Bare (Bangalore), Geetanjali Thapa (Mumbai), Ritabhari Chakraborty (Kolkata), Shankar Ramakrishnan (Kerala), Ravi Singh (Mumbai), Purav Goswami (Assam), Meera Vasudevan(Mumbai), Phuntsok Ladakhi (Jammu), Noksha Saham (Arunachal), Kinzong Bhutia (Sikkim), Master Govardhan(Kerala), Tensing Lepcha (Sikkim), Melwyn Williams (Delhi), Krishnan Balakrishnan (Kerala), Yancho Bhutia(Sikkim) and Arjun(Sikkim). Geetanjali is also the winner of National Film Award for Best Actress in 2013.

Filming

The film is shot[5][6] entirely in Sikkim, an Indian state that borders China. With its magnificent landscapes and stunning vistas, the state itself features as a major character in the movie. The movie also talks about the rampant dam construction which has systematically choked off all the rivers and badly impacted the ecology of this once-pristine state. A number of NGOs and activists from the state who continue to work tirelessly against projects that threaten the ecosystem of Sikkim, were associated with the movie both on and behind the camera.

Festival Selections and Awards
  • Winner Best Screen Play award at Aurangabad International film festival 2019
  • Winner Premios Da Critica (Critics award) at 39th Oporto International film festival, Portugal, 2019
  • Winner best cinematography at Indian Film festival Cincinnati, Ohio 2019 September
  • Montreal World Film Festival, August 2018 in World Greats
  • Almaty Film festival, September 2018 in Main competition
  • Hanoi International Film Festival, October 2018 in Panorama
  • Jogja NETPAC Asian Film Festival, November 2018 in Asian Perspective
  • All Lights International Film festival, Hyderabad, December 2018 in Main competition
  • International Film festival of Kerala in December 2018 in the section Indian Cinema Now
  • Dhaka International Film Festival in December 2018 in Asian Film Competition section
  • 13th Ethiopian International Film Festival in December 2018 in World Cinema section
  • 16th Chennai International Film Festival in December 2018
  • 6th Aurangabad International Film Festival in January 2019 in the Competition section
  • 11th Jaipur International Film Festival in January 2019
  • Fantasporto 2019: 39th Oporto International Film Festival, Portugal in February 2019 in two Competition sections Director's week and Oriental Express
  • Buddhist International Film Festival, Dikshabhumi, Nagpur. January 2019
  • South East Asia film exhibition, Kunming, Chna. June 10 to 14
  • Asian Film Festival Barcelona, Spain. 31 October to 10 November
  • In Competition, Indian film festival Cincinnati, Ohio September 2019 .
  • Buddhist film festival New Delhi, October 2019.
  • Buddhist film festival Patna, October 2019
  • Indian Monographic Film Week, Canary Island, Spain, June 2020

References
  1. Uma Da Kunha (12 January 2018). "2018: Indie Cinema's 12 Most Anticipated Films". India: The Citizen.
  2. Saraswathy Nagarajan (10 January 2018). "'I try to experiment in all of my productions': Prakash Bare". The Hindu. Thiruvananthapuram,India.
  3. Cris (24 January 2018). "Bare-ing it all". Cochin,India: Deccan Chronicle.
  4. Vinod Nair (19 December 2017). "There is no space for small filmmakers in the Malayalam: Prakash Bare". The Times of India. Cochin, India.
  5. "Dr Biju wraps up his English film". Cochin,India: Cinema Express. 24 January 2018.
  6. "That's a wrap". Cochin,India: Deccan Chronicle. 11 November 2017.
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