ZUAS won the Best Feature award in our LCF’s 2nd Edition.
Interview with director Garvit Singh.
We understood this is your first feature: what did you worry about before you started to shoot?
It's a self-financed film with no production company or any one backing the project. Honestly, I was too excited about getting on with the shoot. The only worry was: completing the film the way I wanted. Then during midway through the shoot, a fear gripped me. Will I be able to complete the film? I was fortunate that I had a very supporting cast and crew who were willing to go to any extent. I will say I was pretty much confident about everything before the shoot.
How were your cast & crew found?
Once the script was locked, I knew exactly what my characters looked like. So we hired a casting director and started sending him notes. Bablu was the first character we finalized. For Sandeep we had kept an open audition and Pallav (Sandeep) was the first one to audition. I was very lucky to get all these actors on board quickly and exactly as I wanted.
Niraj is the DOP of the film and we had known each other for 6 years. So he was on board by default. Not only as DOP: rather from script-writing to post-production, he was actively involved.
What had got you into filmmaking?
Fresh out of medical school I was preparing for my master's. It was an ordinary night when I took a break from long study hours to watch a film. I remember watching ”The Shining” by Stanley Kubrick when I was in the first year of my college and hating it for not being the kind of horror I had expected from a genre film. That night while watching it again, something churned inside. It was so powerful that there was no dilemma of giving up my career in medicine and I became a filmmaker. That night is still an enigma to me.
Your script mixes different temporal lines, mystery, concrete-or-metaphorical issues, a bit of oneirism… well, lots of elements to consider; we can barely imagine the amount of work it required before it eventually rendered a complete story with the balance you wanted. How were your actors involved in this process? Was everything already clear for you, or did they have space to experiment other directions with their characters? Did you explore things beforehand through some rehearsals?...
It took me approx 3 years and I don't know how many rewrites to lock the script. I had everything figured out and had a detailed shot list, notes for every department.
The actors were super supportive, involved and inquisitive to an extent that during the shoot sometimes I had to hide when I saw them. Because when you are doing a project, you want others to look at it not with a professional perspective but rather becoming a cog in the entire structure of it. That's what I got from my actors. Even during the shoot when a major fuck-up happened and I was almost on the verge of breakdown, they pledged their support.
I always keep a space for experimentation no matter how much I am prepared. Sometimes I really want to be surprised so I give my actors a free hand and let them guide me in the scene. I deliberately do this for some scenes which I think have figured it all out.
Earlier we had planned a 10-day rehearsal, which got extended to 15 days.
When & where was ZUAS shot, and how much time in total did you have?
It was mostly shot in Madhya Pradesh, a central state in India; the urban sequence we shot in Mumbai. Earlier we had scheduled 28 days of shooting which got cut down to 18 days because of the budget. I was mad because I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat. Now when I look back, I will never do that again. Gruelling 18 days of sleepless nights.
What were your expectations for the film’s general photography?
Being an indie film, we didn't had the luxury to design every shot and choreograph extensive camera movement. So I was grounded in reality and knew what needed to be done broadly. So we had compartmentalised the script into three spaces— the road trip, the village and the lodge. For the road trip we weren't carrying any lights and it was all done without permission. Whatever light we used was reserved for the lodge as I wanted it to be surreal, a space which comes out of nowhere on a road trip. We were not going for coverage; every shot was written down and the approach was minimal.
At the Little Croco Festival, we’re fond of anecdotes. What was the shooting’s most difficult moment? Or was there a magical scene or shot that everyone loved to do?
I have to tell you that before the shoot began, our EP, Line producer and even costume designer all backed out, and I was handling all the departments. I was wearing multiple hats during the shoot. It kind of gives you a control but now anything happening on set will seep into me. That was worrying and it soon transformed into dread. I was shooting the night scene in the village when Sandeep arrives. It was in the courtyard and Pallav had just given an amazing performance. I happily turned around and saw these men with long faces looking at me. I thought a disaster had struck and now I would have to cancel the shoot. They called me outside. I followed them: they showed me the car I had rented, which was totalled. How happy I was that I could continue with the shoot so I ran back inside. Incidents like this kept popping up but what kept my sanity intact was the content and the confidence I was getting out of the shoot.
Do talk about ZUAS’s postproduction!
We rewrote the script on the edit. We changed the entire structure. I think editing is the best place to learn everything about filmmaking apart from actually shooting it. The first cut of the film was clocking in at 2 hours 45 mins and there were lots of exposition scenes in it, which, when I look back, were not required while writing. So the most of present and past confluence we see was done on the edit. It was a long edit and my editor at one point really wanted to just get rid of it.
The sound took most time as everything was sync-recording and no ADR was done. Overall it took me almost 2 years to wrap up the post.
When you see the final result now: what are you particularly proud of?
I am really proud of how I handled the shooting days and in spite of all the troubles we had I never let my focus waver. My actors were brilliant and one moment I am especially proud of is the night scene in the village when Sandeep comes home.
Where can people watch ZUAS? And if not available yet: do you know how it might be in the future?
Well right now I am hoping to get the film into some festivals for a year maybe. So let's see where the film goes from there. I will personally let you guys know when and where the film will be available to watch.
Any other project that you would like to share here?
I am working on a horror genre. It's something which has always intrigued me. My first draft is complete. It's a slasher film about “Surviving the election campaign”.
(& Garvit wanted to add this conclusion for LCF)
Finally, I would really like to thank you guys for selecting my film and reviewing it.
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