Arindam Ganguly, OP
Bhubaneswar: Coronavirus lockdown has impacted all the sectors including film and television production. But this has not stopped creative artists to use the time in a creative manner. Many filmmakers are creating lockdown related short movies from their homes without breaking any law.
Young filmmaker Abhishek Swain who has made a name with many award-winning short movies, shot an over three-minute-long suspense thriller short movie ‘Lockdown’ which stars Kuhu Pattanayak and Hariss Mohanty. The 3:35 minute long movie conveys a social message of staying indoors in a different way using thriller genre.
Talking’ to OrissaPOST, Abhishek says the challenge was to make a film under lockdown without violating any rules. This film is entirely made with a mobile phone. An idea hit my mind to convey a social message in a different manner, so I contacted actor friends Kuhu Pattanayak and Hariss Mohanty.
“The actress is right now in Balasore at her home town and the actor Hariss Mohanty is from Balakati. I gave them information about the idea and told them to shoot accordingly. They shot it properly and mailed me the files. After a few experiments, I made this short film. Later, I contacted musician Kisaloy Roy from Kolkata. He liked this theme and made the music for it. We completed the movie in two days,” Abhishek says.
“All of us are going through a tough time. Though our work and income sources have stopped, I appreciate the decisions made by the government. We should follow it properly. Lockdown can’t stop us from doing creative works. Only our limitations can. Lockdown is the perfect time to do creative works.,” he adds.
Another short movie that caught the attention is ‘Lockdown Routine’ starring state film award winner for best actress Barsha Nayak. It portrays the variety of things people are doing during the lockdown.
It was directed by Anupam Patnaik who wrote the short movie along with frequent collaborator Roshan Bisoi. The makers are popular for creating popular Odia web series such as John’s Cafe, Welcome to the Family, Google Kahuchi and others.
The 10:11 min short movie showcased different situation during lockdown such as calling old friends, cleaning the whole house many times, talking to your pets, binge-watching popular shows and movie, making dalgona coffee etc.
The movie also gave a message to follow the lockdown rules and glorifies health workers for their job.
Similarly, another filmmaker Amartya Bhattacharya made a feature movie ‘Made in Isolation’.
The entire film spanning around 1 hr and 15 mins, is made inside a 16 feet x 10 feet room, with no crew or external resources. The film is a slice of life under lockdown, treated in a psychedelic tone.
The film is made completely under isolation. It’s written, shot, directed and edited by Amartya, who is currently in isolation in Bhubaneswar.