Hyderabad : ‘Drawing Blood’ – a feature film in English based depicting a ‘colourless life of an artist’ is all set to hit the theatres this August. It is the 7th English film made (others being Nagesh Kukunoor’s Rockford, Hyderabad Blues, Mod, Bollywood Calling, Hyderabad Blues 2 and Television Anchor Jhansi and Shital Morjaria’s ‘All I Want is Everything’) from the region.  We are making efforts to screen the movie at International Film Festivals, informs Natraaj Maharshi (Maha), Director of the film while talking to the media in city on Wednesday.

The film is about a colorless life of an artist. It revolves around the hunt of the protagonist for fulfilling petty desires that leads him to lose out on what he already had. The film is itself a canvas in-making that designs the flow of deep emotions that lead a story of an artist who loses himself in the process of hunting for emotions in himself that makes his life so colorless, says Hyderabadi Natraaj Maharshi (Maha), a trained film technician who has now turned a Director and Actor with ‘Drawing Blood’ movie.

‘Drawing Blood’ is made by a team of close knit die-hard film world cinema admirers under the ‘HYX6 Creations’ banner and stars Maha (as Artist Yogi), Subhiksha (Yogi’s wife Veda), Kona Mallik (Psychiatrist), Siva Ganesh (Business Tycoon) and Chennai Kanth (Yogi’s Friend). The story and screenplay is by Director Maha, who also enacts the role of the protagonist.

The film draws parallels between Life and Painting. Says Maha, “At birth your life is a plain canvas, Your potential is the colours, Your choices are the strokes on the canvas, At death, this canvas will either be a treasured masterpiece or an unnoticed scribbling. That would be the judgment day on how good a painter you were in painting your LIFE.” Maha, who is an artist himself, auditioned many performers and actors for this script, but no one matched his expectations and my vision to play the lead character, Yogi. Hence, Maha himself took up the challenge and played the role of Yogi.

Artists make colourful paintings but many of them lead a pale life. Painters / Artists are free birds of imagination and creation, they tend to picture moments that they experience or envision onto their canvas. If unsatisfied with their paintings, they can erase them and re-make them. But they cannot design their own real life incidents nor can they erase them or dispose them as they wish just as with paintings, says Maha. Trying to understanding some artist’s lives, I realized that if they haven’t felt or experienced “pain”, they cannot make “paintings”. These thoughts triggered Maha and the concept of ‘Drawing Blood’ took birth.

Commenting on his choice of English as a medium of communication for this debut feature film, Maha says that English is the new language of Indian cinema. Today English which was the default language for non-feature and documentary films is becoming the medium to communicate with audiences crossing the barriers of the regional languages. English is the lingua franca of India. When two strangers from different parts of India meet they converse in English. ‘Drawing Blood’ is a sensible film for the discerning audience; I felt the subject needed a language with a wider reach and hence English was chosen, says Maha. India is a multi-lingual place, our only common language is English, he adds.  English is the part of the modern middle class life in India. We talk, think and dream in English. That is why I wanted to do the film in English, he added.

 

Off late English is recast in Indian films. And the trend is past catching up.  The potential of new and wider markets and a healthy appetite at home prompted us to come out with a film with global appeal and reach, Maha added. Even the Bollywood’s latest movies are talking to a new audience in a new language — English. English in the past used only to portray ruthless behavior of our past rulers, particularly British Raj.  Now English has come of age in Indian cinema. It is now considered as an alternative way to deal contradictions between western lifestyles and traditional values. We are thinking globally and acting locally, he said.

Does this mean that English films in India are getting niche response and can pickup in future?  No doubt, they have been, Maha says. The multiplex culture has been crucial in the development. There has always been a class for English films here in India and for some movies in the past like Aparna Sen’s ‘36 Chowranghee Lane’ and our own Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘Hyderabad Blues’ have done decent business in the market.

There is good scope for Indian English Language films as many speak English. Many do not even know that the Government of India gives ‘National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English’, instituted way back in 1964! But, there were some years awards were never utilized as no English films were made in those years.  But, now the situation is changing. Now more and more English films are being made. Though Indian films in English are few and far between they have a made a mark for themselves. Movies such as 36 Chowringhee Lane, English August, Hyderabad Blues, Monsoon Wedding, Bend it like Beckham, Mitr – My Friend, Bride and Prejudice, Fire, Being Cyrus, The Last Lear, Ship of Theseus, etc. and others have caught the audience’s attention

Drawing Blood is our effort to do something new, something unique. The unfolding of every situation, every scenario in ‘Drawing Blood’ is presented in a different way.

Natraaj Maharshi (Maha) is a Trained Film Technician-turned-Artist-turned-Film Producer-Director and Actor Nataraaj Maharshi a.k.a. Maha had earlier done some brilliant works such as “For U”(2007) – a Hindi short film based on true story of a tsunami victim which won lot of accolades and appreciation.; “Shabd” (2007) – a Hindi short film giving out meaningful morale on a missing link between children and parents; “Godse loves Gandhism”(2010)- a short film in Telugu on the negative image embarked upon the name Godse, that prevents from accepting the person’s spirit of Gandhism; etc.

The Indian Art Market is estimated to be about Rs.1250 crore and is said to be on growth path. Art is also looked at as an investment. The Indian film industry is projected to touch INR 150 Billion in 2016. But, the contribution of the lingua franca of the modern India – English is miniscule until recently. But things are changing and changing for good.  With the English films trend is on, the things may change soon. Indian English language films are here to stay. Our own Nagesh Kukunoor’s Hyderbad Blues to Amitabh starrer The Last Lear continued to make Indian English-language films and English films based on Indian themes to international acclaim; this has opened up the genre further both creatively and commercially.