{"id":2627,"date":"2024-05-16T09:21:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T09:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/entertainment\/sudhish-kamath-on-culture-vulture-and-kissing-goodbye-to-indie\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T09:21:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T09:21:45","slug":"sudhish-kamath-on-culture-vulture-and-kissing-goodbye-to-indie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/?p=2627","title":{"rendered":"Sudhish Kamath on \u2018Culture Vulture\u2019 and kissing goodbye to indie"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sudhish Kamath cuts a curious figure in Indian independent cinema. His chatty, self-referential films are rarely arthouse events. Rather, he makes quick, quirky, low-budget movies in the tradition of the early mumblecores. Sudhish, a former film critic, writes, directs and self-finances his films. But after over a decade of toughing it out all by himself, on the fringes of an indifferent industry, he\u2019s ready to hang up his boots. <\/p>\n

Last year, Sudhish announced his newest film \u2014 Culture Vulture<\/i>, a stoner comedy that satirises a supine media and entertainment world \u2014 as the last he\u2019ll independently direct. His rationale is straightforward and hard to rebut; years of self-producing his movies have left him drained and exhausted, both financially and spiritually. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m done, man,\u201d Sudhish says with candid finality. \u201cI kept pouring my own money into movies thinking I was pursuing art. I was living out of a suitcase to fund my last film. But then my friends told me, it\u2019s become almost like a gambling habit. I had to understand and draw the line.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\nA still from \u2018Culture Vulture\u2019\n<\/p>\n

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Play it again, Sam<\/h4>\n

Culture Vulture<\/i>, Sudhish\u2019s marijuana-addled last hurrah, initially took shape as a direct sequel to his 2010 film Good Night Good Morning<\/i>, a black-and-white romance about two strangers who connect on New Year\u2019s Eve. Along with Side A Side B<\/i> (2017), it rounds out his self-described \u2018retro romance\u2019 trilogy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shot the earlier version of the film for three days and had already spent 15 lakhs on it. We decided to shelve it because nothing was going right on that project.\u201d This was in December 2019; once the pandemic struck, he lost his skeletal crew including his director of photography from South Africa. With filming restrictions in place and no real budget to go on, Sudhish decided to \u2018DIY\u2019 the whole thing, investing in a modest shooting gear and handling costumes, edit, and visual effects all by himself. <\/p>\n

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He also vastly reworked the screenplay, expanding its satirical ambit. The impetus was the frenzied smear campaigns and accusations of drug use against Bollywood celebrities following the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput (all while, as the film points out, the GDP plummeted and a conglomerate acquired stakes in a major airport).<\/p>\n

Anav (Shaurya Tyagi), the protagonist of Culture Vulture<\/i>, is a stereotypically clueless Hindi film hero, a spaced-out doofus with \u201cno opinions\u201d who walks into a media witchhunt when he assents to taking a drug test during an interview. To complicate matters, the headstrong journalist, Ila (Rashi Mal), turns out to be his ex.<\/p>\n

Sudhish describes the plot as a \u2018stoner Casablanca\u2019, with nods to Ijaazat<\/i> (1987) and Nayak<\/i> (2001). \u201cOne of my influences was the Woody Allen comedy Play It Again, Sam<\/i> (1972), in which he examines the figure of the Bogart tough guy through a man in the 1970s. Here, I wanted to do the same with the modern Indian hero.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Culture Vulture<\/i> recalls the loose, free-associating style of X: Past Is Present<\/i> (2015), an experimental film Sudhish co-directed with 10 other filmmakers. There is a 25-minute stretch in this one that unfolds like a bad trip, the colours on the screen smudging over \u00e0 la A Scanner Darkly<\/i> (2006). The cinematic references fly thick and fast: Pineapple Express, Say Anything, Metropolis, Rang De Basanti<\/i>, you name it. There are whimsical details that leap out: for instance, a Shah Rukh Khan-shaped Ganesha idol that Anav lugs around, a goofy yet touching symbol, as Sudhish says, of the bondedness of Indian culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe film is set on Visarjan day in Mumbai. It\u2019s a day of letting go. I got in touch with a murtikar<\/i> (sculptor) who does Ganesha idols. We got the prop made for 10,000 bucks.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\nA still from \u2018Culture Vulture\u2019\n<\/p>\n

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Almost Famous<\/h4>\n

Cameron Crowe, one of Sudhish\u2019s personal heroes, makes a cameo via Zoom in Culture Vulture<\/i> (there are other cameos by Nagesh Kukunoor and Suchitra Pillai). Curiously, in place of a pre-written scene, Crowe was provided questions; the veteran American director wrote the bit himself, funnily riffing on the modern-day relevance of his famous Jerry Maguire<\/i> line: You complete me <\/i>(\u201cI got it from a Joni Mitchell song\u201d). <\/p>\n

\u201cCrowe sweetly recorded the video and sent it to me. I was so thrilled that I didn\u2019t have the heart to make him re-record it in 4k. Resolution, anyway, is overrated.\u201d <\/p>\n

Culture Vulture<\/i> takes a comic view of the apathy and disorientation of the pandemic years. Sudhish says he did not wish to make light of the cost of media sensationalism during those difficult, tragic times. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did not want to add to that,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhich is why I have avoided mentioning Sushant\u2019s name or giving any more credibility to those conspiracy theories or mentioning the victims of those smear campaigns.\u201d <\/p>\n

Its frankly anti-establishment tone \u2014 there\u2019s a bit about the Prime Minister\u2019s \u2018cloud cover\u2019 remark on the Balakot airstrikes \u2014 likely ensured the film would never make it to streaming platforms (a theatrical release was even more inconceivable). Instead, Sudhish is releasing it directly on YouTube on May 16 for a limited period. \u201cI want it to be an appointment-viewing experience. If it gets enough views through the week, I will consider bringing it back.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Farewell, My Lovely<\/h4>\n

Professionally, Sudhish is in a better place than before. He has written two episodes of The Family Man Season<\/i> 3 (Krishna D.K., one half of the Raj & DK duo, had come to a preview screening of Culture Vulture <\/i>and offered him the gig). He will continue to seek out mainstream projects, a chance to expand his horizons while attaining a measure of financial security.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike in the US, we never had a proper distribution channel in India for independent films. Streamers, too, are mostly going for big-star titles and thrillers.\u201d <\/p>\n

He tried getting Culture Vulture<\/i> into festivals, to little avail. It was perhaps too light-hearted for them, he figures. \u201cThe thing with making middle-of-the-road films is that you get left in the middle of the road,\u201d Sudhish laughs. <\/p>\n

Still, he looks back at his independent career with a mix of pride and relief. \u201cIt\u2019s time for me to let go,\u201d he says, much like Anav with his SRK Ganesha\u00a0on\u00a0Visarjan\u00a0day.<\/p>\n

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