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What is ‘Viraha’ ?

Viraha means longing in Sanskrit.
The film is visual treat of surreal images, haunting music, raw psychologies and ancient
folklores that form a maelstrom in a part of India where time and lives flows differently from the rest of the world. Where a young man travels from the border deserts of Rajasthan and Haryana to the capital (Delhi) in the mid 80’s, carrying the unforgettable folk story of his village and an unfinished meeting.

Roop Kanwar is the last recorded sati.

SYNOPSIS

Everyday Roop awaits Kanwar with the sound of passing trains and his letters that never
came. As the lone window in her room and the neem tree outside it become witnesses to her longing, months turn into years.

On a melancholy evening when the two lovers meet again secretly in a kikar forest. Kanwar talks about the revolution, her beauty and his longing for her, to which Roop only says, “This is our last meeting. I am getting married this purnima (full moon)”.

Langas sing as Kanwar leaves his village at the break of dawn for the last time. The lovers will see each other again. Alas, not really. Viraha goes beyond villages, rituals, revolution, folk history and life itself.

MOTIVATION

The idea of this film started with the unconscious thought of showing the last one hour of a man’s life before he commits suicide. I was contemplating on the idea of instances and acts performed before a man leaves the world forever: What he does in his last moments, the things he touches, the paths he walks and the room he takes his last breath in. I wanted to capture all the last contacts a man makes with life, before he leaves everything forever. Initially the film was supposed to be one hour long, however later I recalled a long lost story of mine about two lovers: “Roop” and “Kanwar”, based in a remote village on the border of Rajasthan and Haryana.

 The names are taken from Roop Kanwar who is the last recorded sati in India. Somewhere, I felt the connection between both the stories and placed them next to each other where they started connecting unconsciously.

I belong to the same village as the characters in Viraha and was brought up in the same streets. When I used to travel to far-off lands in Haryana and Rajasthan with my parents, I would always wonder about the mystery of the landscapes. I saw how people changed dramatically; grew up, died, got married and life went on. I saw rituals, paintings, hand-prints, pottery and other symbols, and the existence of their images in my life. The oral history which was given to me from my grandfather, the stories of villages, their people, love, bravery and witches became a childhood feast of myths.

Once I started writing, these stories came back to me and now, I wish to tell these raw folklores visually. I can see them coming alive in those landscapes.

Roop and Kanwar could have been together and their names could have been saved if Roop would have escaped with Kanwar that evening or if Kanwar would have written those letters.

But, that did not happen and Roop Kanwar became sati.

This story is part of my angst which is about how reading and following a book is not the solution for human kind. It is my personal reality that books only give knowledge to those who read them where 70% of Indians cannot.

At a time when we talk of revolution and foreign policies, in another time, something so rooted happens that it can shake the belief of a reader. This is what happens with Kanwar. He was guilty of not being a good lover and now he is guilty of not going back home, but to the world to find himself.

A few years ago, I heard a song called “Khurja” by the Langas of Rajasthan and it set the tone of the film for me. The old haunted voices in it, travelled with me to all the places of the story’s existence and told me the textures, speed and colors of the film. This song is very old and was recorded live by a very important archivist named Komal Kothari, a few decades back.  Today, all the four performers in the song as well as mister Kothari have died, but the song still lives and will keep on living among us as “Viraha”. It’s the only treasure I have, these old sounds of the Sindhi Sarangi and the voices that are very magical and haunting at the same time. I had never imagined before this that sound can take you so deep inside yourself or create such powerful imagery. For me, it’s going back home.

This film is going back home for all of us.

TREATMENT

This film will be an exploration of raw psychologies, symbols and textures.It will be entirely shot on HD & the colors will be degraded to match the existence of reality embedded in the story with silent, long choreographed shots that will be a treat of sorrow and mourning. Langa and Magniyaar folk music will resound occasionally to de-saturate the imagery.

Why is ‘Viraha’ an important film?

Viraha will be the first Indian regional experimental feature film of its kind to emerge from Haryana where the last known film was made over 20 years ago. Viraha is a rare species of film. It represents a belt of North Indian Haryana that is often portrayed notoriously by the media. It undertakes an anthropological exploration of the region’s people, symbols, rituals, landscapes and folklore rather than taking the wide-spreadpolitical or popular perspective.

Viraha will be the first film in India to chronicle Indian folk music in a unique way. It makes parallel journeys with the film’s title song that has been lost to the UK archives after being recorded by the great Indian folk archivist Komal Kothari. The songs in this film are very unique and have been sung by long deceased performers whose younger generations have never even heard of them.

Viraha will also be the first experimental regional film from India to use crowd-funding as a platform to raise its funds.

The Indian independent scenario is cluttered with amateur, rambling, low quality projects
that have their minds in the right places, but not their hearts. Unlike its contemporaries,
Viraha is a film that explores the country’s roots in a never before seen surreal manner.

Who is Team Viraha?

The film is being put together by a group of hardcore independent visionaries who have
given up main stream success in various fields to pursue their love for storytelling. The film is written and will be directed by Sumit Verma who has worked with some of India’s most prolific independent auteurs such as Kamal Swaroop (Om Dar Badar), Ashish Avikuntak (Katho Upanishad) andQaushik Mukherjee (Gandu/Asshole). Currently, Sumit who has a short film named “Bhaagi Hui Ladkiyaan” produced by Overdose Joint to his credit, is running an art collective named FiftHead Factory in Delhi, India and Malmo, Sweden. The film’s cinematography will be undertaken by Narayan Tushar Kaundinya whereas Kabir Chowdhary will architecture the surreal art design. Garima Sharma is the creative producer while Shreya Mahajan and Sandeep Kumar Verma are the film’s executive producers.

What we have done so far?

Extensive hunting for locations across North India

Endless script sessions and workshops to create the right environment for the project.

Tedious auditions with various individuals to finalize willing and intelligent actors who fit the film’s look as well as vision

Why are we out here and what are we requesting?

As cinema goers, you are entitled to access all stories that deserved to be told. Viraha is
one such story that will not materialize without your support. You deserve quality cinema and we want to make sure that as a film, Viraha does full justice to the story, as well as our expectations and yours. We want to set an example and change the process of how cinema is created and materialized by promoting content that is for the people and by the people.

Content that they approve of and want to see, talk, tweet about. To give that experience, we are putting in a lot of effort to make sure every aspect of the film is authentic.

We have undertaken extensive recce (location hunting) on our own money and have
invested sleepless nights, running around to meet actors, travelling in trains, on foot to
meet people, finalize costumes, locations and technicians. Our core team will not even
be paid for their efforts. We have been making low budget films via guerrilla shooting,
taking borrowed equipments and stretching our limited funds to account for every cost,
sometimes even cutting on our food to make ends meet and loving every minute of it
because we want to bring you films and stories that you could believe in, with us.

Taking bare minimum expenses into account, specifically, this is what we need:

Rental for facility
Equipment purchases & rental
Food
Transportation
Talent and crew remuneration
Post Production

Considering that Viraha is a full feature length film set across exotic and never before seen locations such villages in Rajasthan, Haryana and some key locations in Delhi, shoe-string budget is an understatement. We are really trying to make things work and pay for technical specifications that will justify the script and story. You can be assured that this project will have us spend every penny with utmost prudence and transparency.

Your financial support will be the backbone of our budget. The money we raise will go
towards paying our editors to produce the final cut, paying for the sound mix, the on-line edit, a graphic designer, music rights and copyright fees for graphic material we want to use. To share our findings and meetings with as wide an audience as possible we need to sub-title the film very carefully. We need to pay for the duplication, packaging and shipping of the DVDs to you, our supporters. Any additional money raised will be used to take the film back for screenings to international film festivals and possible independent distribution
networks in India.

To complete outstanding post-production work will require two months, counted from the
end of the successful fund-raising campaign.

We expect to complete the film and launch it in September 2013.

What should you support Viraha?

Crowd funding is the only source to generate the funds for regional experimental films like Viraha which do not have market viability, but sensible and unusual content. Big producers and production houses do not want to touch these kind of films with a ten-foot pole lest they ‘lose’ their money.

Even good directors with something noteworthy to say, only get funding after they are past their 40s to make the kind of films they want. So what about the younger ones? The ones who have beautiful stories to tell, but not the money to set the stage with?

The answer is you. All of you out there, who are dreamers like us or just readers, watchers oradmirers of wonderful, unusual stories. We need your support to take you on the journeys that this film has taken us on. To places, forgotten not just by the world, but time itself.

To say that regional experimental films are underrepresented in India would be an
understatement. With no sugar daddys of cinema to finance such projects, public support becomes the best democratic option to materialize these films.

For your generous contribution, some of the perks we will include are digital download of the film, a Special Edition Director’s Cut DVD with Extras, signed by the director, a Limited Edition copy of the script, Special Edition Viraha Postcards, Signed Poster of the film, Co-Producer, the contributers name in the Credits as well as special thanks.

Whether you contribute $5 or $500, or just help us spread the word, YOU hold the key. Your contribution is your vote for us and your belief in our team’s ability to make a story that will not only resonate with you, but haunt you. Every dollar takes us one step closer to making the story come to life and YOU can make it happen.

Note: Due to film festival rules and restrictions regarding online publication of the film, there may be a delay of 4 - 6 months for digital download.

What happens if we don’t meet our funding goals?

We want to make this film so badly that we are willing to beg, borrow, steal hijack and even ambush to bring Viraha to you. However, we are hoping that things will not come to that as you will understand the importance and relevance of this feature not just within Indian cinema but also on theinternational platform.

Can you spread the word?

Since crowd-funding involves many levels of participation, not only in monetary terms, we are hoping to create more awareness about films like Viraha so that other film-makers take up the mantle and take this legacy forward. We are not asking that you only give us your money, if there are other things you could do in your capacity as a contributor that will help push the project forward, we will be as grateful to you.

We invite you to use the Indiegogo shared tools to spread word about the film with your
friends.

By contributing to Viraha you are, in essence, a filmmaker of sorts as this project is all
about uniting the public towards Indian independent cinema and democratizing a highly
commercial, hierarchical and nonsensical industry relegated to dance and song that is
Bollywood.

Viraha is your chance to save Indian independent cinema from commercialization.

Impact

Viraha is not just another independent film asking for your money. It’s an Indian regional film from an area that is notorious for being portrayed as the cesspool of the great Indian cultural divide. Much like our North East Indian counterparts, Haryana is the most ill and underrepresented region within the Indian cinematic space.

Since the last 20 years, (think seven thousand and three hundred days), there has been NO sensible award- winning regional film worthy of international standards that has emerged from the state, much less an experimental independent one at that.

What we are trying to do with Viraha is use it to place Haryana on the map of India and the world’s important film cultures that are worthy of being utilized for cinematic content. No one has used landscapes, symbols and rituals the way this film will and we urge you to support this important undertaking.