Indian Director Nishanth Kalidindi Explores Artists’ Double Lives in Rotterdam-Bound ‘Theatre’
“Theatre,” the sophomore feature from Indian filmmaker Nishanth Kalidindi following his cult hit “Kadaseela Biriyani” (2021), will world premiere in International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Harbour section.
Set in the traditional urban center of former French colony Pondicherry in southern India, rather than its more commonly filmed spiritual township Auroville, the Tamil and Malayalam language film follows Das, a cowherd who leads a double life as an actor in a local theater company. When his past catches up with him through Guna, a former funeral drummer turned stage musician, tensions rise within the close-knit performing group under their inexperienced director’s drive for perfection.
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“The film’s conception traces back to even before ‘Kadaseela Biriyani,'” Kalidindi told Variety. “I spent quite a while observing the lifestyles of the Indianostrum Theatre group in Pondicherry while they were creating pieces of theater. What stayed with me was how the director would interact with his actors and have them involved in the entire improvisation.”
The director opted for an improvisational approach during filming. “We improvised the narrative, and the writing continued to evolve during filming. Our fresh textures and shapes were born out of nebulous scenarios,” explains Kalidindi. “What I expected to be my challenge was to be able to keep them inspired, and make sure they’re feeling rewarded by the end of every captured piece.”
“Stylistically, since it personally felt like a very grounded slice-of-life experience to witness these performers, I felt I had to respect those moments with the same kind of style,” Kalidindi notes. “Even if I was eventually shooting a fictional story, what mattered was that I preserved the true essences of their lives.”
The film is produced by Thanikachalam S.A.’s Bangalore-based Barycenter Films, alongside Pondicherry’s Maestros & Panoramaas. The producing team includes Thanikachalam, who previously produced Cannes 2024 entry “In Retreat,” along with Vinoth Thanigasalam, a sound designer with credits including “Kadaseela Biriyani” and “Seven Seas Seven Hills” (Rotterdam 2024); Neil Sebastian, a production designer turned producer; Hestin Jose Joseph, a cinematographer who has worked across Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil cinema; and director Kalidindi himself.
“I am drawn to the homegrown-ness of films made by directors originating from there. That’s a great way of making indie films – the rootedness of it all,” says Thanikachalam. “‘Theatre’ captures the authentic Tamil culture and daily life of Pondicherry city, as opposed to the more commonly portrayed international community of Auroville that tends to make its appearance in cinema every now and then.”
The film utilizes a unique financing model inspired by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, an artist-led studio that creates entrepreneurial partnerships with filmmakers to empower their creative vision, with key creative personnel including the cinematographer, production designer and sound designer serving as producing partners. “It’s always difficult to raise financing with indie films. With this one, it was fairly less complicated,” Thanikachalam explains.
“I hope the audience takes home the spirit of them risking their other professional areas of life to answer their calling to be artists,” says Kalidindi. “How good they are at the craft at that point in their life doesn’t matter, only the strength of their pursuit does. To me, that’s what the film stands for.”
Following Rotterdam, the producers are seeking international sales representation and plan theatrical distribution in India. They are also developing Kalidindi’s next Pondicherry-set feature “Dupleix and Dubash” as a co-production.
Barycenter Films is also backing veteran filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli’s “The Sky and the Cat,” set in Thirthahalli, in the Shimoga district of Karnataka, southern India, based on a U.R. Ananthamurthy story.
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