Head in the clouds
Rahat Mahajan’s debut film, Meghdoot, was in competition at Rotterdam. It’s a dreamscape of parallel tales, abiding love and ancient art forms
Fact and fiction, myth and imagination, overlap in Rahat Mahajan’s debut feature, Meghdoot (The Cloud Messenger), the only Indian film in competition for the Tiger Award, at this year’s International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR).
It is loosely based on the epic of the same name by the Sanskrit poet Kalidasa (c 5th century CE). In the poem, a yaksha (celestial attendant) and his wife are separated and yearning for one another.
In Mahajan’s film, these protagonists are teenagers named Jaivardhana and Tarini, who meet after centuries of longing, in the present-day, at a boarding school in the Himalayas.
The narrative unfolds amid dramatic parallel re-enactments of myths and legends in classical storytelling forms such as Kutiyattam, Theyyam and Kathakali. Mahajan, 35, incorporates bits of his own life in the feature too. It’s shot on location, with real students, at his old boarding school.
How did he come up with this story of a boy who must travel to the land of death to break the spell that keeps him and his love apart? Excerpts from an interview.
What was it like shooting with real students, at a school, in your debut feature?
The scenes in which the whole school is present, almost 500 students, were definitely difficult. It can feel impossible to handle such a crowd. Certain scenes required absolute discipline, and if even one student was looking towards the camera, we had to reshoot it all. Since we were working in an active school, we sometimes got the kids for only half an hour. But the cast was exceptional, especially Ritvik Tyagi and Ahalya Shetty, who play the protagonists. Being untrained actors, they got directly into the emotion of each scene. Ritvik (aged 25) is now studying cinematography in London. Ahalya (aged 23), with her introverted personality, slipped seamlessly into the role of Tarini.
What inspired you to weave in the classical south Indian storytelling forms of Kutiyattam, Kathakali and Theyyam?
Kutiyattam (with roots in the dramatised dance worship of ancient India) is considered one of the oldest forms of theatre in the world. In 2010, when I began to draft the script for this film, I dreamt of a Kutiyattam performer being the film’s narrator. Though the form was alien to me, and though everyone I shared the idea with doubted it would blend into a story set in a boarding school in the Himalayas, I kept it in every draft.
Then, I chanced upon Film Form, a collection of essays by (legendary filmmaker) Sergei Eisenstein. One essay drew parallels between the Japanese theatre form of Kabuki and the montage. This convinced me of the marriage I could form in my film.
A search led me to Kutiyattam exponent Kapila Venu. She agreed to play the Kutiyattam performer in the film, and also acted as director of traditional performances. It was Kapila who introduced the other forms of Kathakali and Theyyam, where she felt they were appropriate.
A photography teacher named Mr Sapru is a guiding light for students in the film. Who was the character modelled on?
Mr Sapru was a real-life teacher I met the year I joined the boarding school where the film is set. I was just eight. He was a kind spirit and was truly influential in those formative years. He left school in a few years, but his memory stayed close to my heart.
Eventually, when I started writing Meghdoot, he inspired a central character of the same name. I imagined him garnering much wisdom in his travels and returning to the boarding school where he once taught, to conduct a photography workshop.
Out of curiosity, I reached out to the real Mr Sapru in 2016. It turned out that my fictional backstory was quite in line with reality. He agreed to play the character; grew his beard in preparation. Unfortunately, in 2018, Mr Sapru passed away. Rajendranath Zutshi, who plays the character in the film, stayed true to Mr Sapru’s spirit.
What’s next for you, and for Meghdoot?
We are yet to have a world premiere for Meghdoot, since IFFR was online this year. We are in touch with international film festivals to determine its journey before making it available to the world at large. Meanwhile, my next film, Adbhut (Wonder) is based on the scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose, who saw science not as a mechanistic analysis of facts but rather as a broader interpretation, a wider perception, of the universe.