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Gritty short films are becoming increasingly popular, and short film ‘#Kalyug ’ is set to grace screens at international film festivals around the world as it gears up for its release to audiences.
We spoke with the team of ‘Kalyug’ to learn about how the story for the film was created, and how the actors got into their characters, as the story is quite dark. Director Atharva Puranik spoke about what influenced him to make the film, which was first shot as a graduate school film after he realized that although the film’s creation would face hurdles, he wanted to create it in order to put the message out there.
“We shot the film in the first week of September 2024, and I had a lot of support from my parents and family as well, which streamlined things. Plus I had two great producers on it as well, and of course fantastic actors, so it was a very big collaboration effort.”
The film itself deals with the story of an actor who finds himself in the middle of a social media storm after he posts a hasty tweet. He starts to spiral when a mysterious woman gives him the chance to go back in time and reverse his mistakes. Actor Manahar Kumar plays the lead role of Raj, and he shares what it was like to get into the skin of his character.
“We had some really intense scenes [in the film] which we deep dived into the first couple of days of filming itself. Atharva had a pretty clear vision, and we would sit before every scene, and I was just trying to be a sponge and understand where Raj is coming from and where he’s going to next mentally and spiritually.”
Actor Aditya Bhattacharjee plays the antagonist in the film, and explained that for him to become his character, he had to “live the reality.”
“Atharva as a maker brought a topic that is very unique that is existing in society, but as an individual, we have to be conscious about our actions and the repercussions that come up. If I’m portraying this type of character, I wouldn’t be safe myself in a market — it’s very raw.”
‘Kalyug’ is currently making its rounds in the international film festival circuit — it was just screened at the Chicago International Film Festival, as well as the Boston International Film Festival, and also graced the Toronto International Film Festival of South Asia. The film is making its India premiere at the Yellowstone International Film Festival this weekend in Mumbai. As the film continues its run at film festivals, the streaming date for the short film is yet to be determined.
