LIGHTS. CAMERA. ACTION!

A movie shot on an iPhone, a twoperson crew and real streetscapes — technology is allowing ambitious filmmakers to attempt dream projects on shoestring budgets and with little support

To onlookers, they seemed like a bunch of people hanging out, joking and scrolling on their cellphones. But the group of 10 at a Mumbai café were actually the cast and crew of a feature film, completing part of a shoot. The movie is now out on Netflix. It’s called Zoo and follows the lives of two young rappers, a drug-peddling waiter and a teenager fighting addiction.

Director Shlok Sharma used minimal sound equipment, no lights and shot it entirely on an iPhone. He picked the phone because he simply couldn’t afford a traditional movie camera, he says. His first film, Haraamkhor (2015), was stuck for so long — three years in post-production and one year at certification — that he had no funds to make his next.

“Rent for a movie camera ranges from ₹15,000 to ₹35,000 per day, not including tripods and Steadicam,” he says. “But not using a movie camera also made the process far easier. A lot of the time, people around didn’t know we were filming.”

While for Sharma a key factor was cost, elsewhere, innovations in technology are allowing filmmakers flexibility that extends beyond budget. First-time storytellers are making feature films with just one assistant; telling tales set in remote areas, taking their stories on the road. Experienced filmmakers are able to bring the real world to life more convincingly, using elements like natural light to enhance their storytelling.

In Assam, Rima Das won four National Awards this year for Village Rockstars.

It’s the tale of a 10-year-old girl who wants to set up a rock band in a remote village in Assam, and it was shot entirely on a Canon digital handheld camera and edited on a laptop. Das worked with just one assistant, her cousin.

Two of her awards, incidentally, were for location sound recording and editing

First-time filmmaker Seby Varghese combined iPhone and drone footage for Unfateful, his road movie about four strangers travelling together through Karnataka,