A Malayalam filmmaker's feat with feet

Kozhikode, Dec 12 (IANS) A young Malayalam filmmaker, Ranish K. Dawa, has made a unique short film which features no faces and stars people's feet.

Kozhikode, Dec 12 (IANS) A young Malayalam filmmaker, Ranish K. Dawa, has made a unique short film which features no faces and stars people's feet.

The 18-minute long film called 'Chuvadu' (Footstep) is the story of a farmer who sells his paddy field and migrates to a city. The film shows his predicament as he gets trapped in the urban ways of life, which are strange to him.

Ranish's camera captures brisk, lawless and loose lifestyles as the farmer's rustic feet go through tarred roads and concrete pavements in filthy city surroundings. The farmer's experience in the city is portrayed through his encounter with a variety of feet that convey to the viewer the nature of the characters.

Ranish said: 'The postures and movement of legs say many things which we usually ignore or leave unnoticed. It was while waiting at a bus station here that I came to notice the legs of people walking across the road.

'I could make out their social interactions or presiding intent just watching the movement of legs. It was then that I felt even feet can be expressive.'

The script for the film was written by local youth Vishwajith.

'When he brought the script to me I thought the story could be effectively conveyed showing only the feet,' said the filmmaker.

Ranish is a farm-engineering graduate and has no formal training in filmmaking.

'It was my childhood association with film director John Abraham that kindled in me the fascination for films. While he was shooting his acclaimed film 'Amma Ariyan' near my home I went to the site and helped him as an errand boy,' said Ranish.

He also had the opportunity to manage a unit of the National Geographic channel in a project to film snow leopards in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.

For 'Chuvadu', Ranish spent a total of Rs.39,000. Financially stretched, he found the project burdensome and had to sell off his mobile phone to fund it.

'I raised a part of the amount through street collections. People in my locality helped and I got Rs.4,200 through such donations. Thus my film became a people's venture,' said Ranish.

'We shot the entire film holding the camera in hand as we did not have equipment like a trolley or a crane,' he added.

Ranish said he is planning a film against dowry using only shadows. He is also working on a couple of serials for Malayalam television channels.

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