Kantara DoP Arvind S. Kashyap on how the film impacted him: "The experience has made me more optimistic as an individual"

“My first reaction to any Rishab Shetty film narration is freaking out. As much as I grow excited about the idea, the thought of having to execute something out of the box, something that hasn’t been attempted at before is quite overwhelming for the cinematographer in me. That’s exactly what the Kantara experience was like for me. But we took the plunge and went ahead with the shoot without second-guessing, hoping that it would all fall in place and I realized that confidence inda nuggidre (if you plough through with confidence), and if you try to be less pragmatic and rational about the process, one is likely to get the best results. Kantara was a mad, frantic energy exercise for all of us crew members but also the most beautiful collaborative for me.”

For cinematographer Arvind S. Kashyap, the experience of working on Rishab Shetty’s Kantara is likely to remain permanently etched on his mind. It was a series of firsts for him – of encountering nature from such closeness, trying out new cinematic vocabulary, and being thrown in at the deep end – but in hindsight, he would probably say that Kantara was nothing short of an exhilarating adventure. As the film gears up for a much-anticipated theatrical release on September 30, Arvind Kashyap is deep in the final round of preparations and still, the journey is vivid in front of his eyes.

“Strangely, none of us crew members recall the complete experience of shooting Kantara because we were so deprived of physical rest, catching only about 3 hours of sleep on all days,” shares Arvind in an exclusive chat with OTTplay, adding that the whole phase of production was not unlike a mega marathon.

“The energy on the sets was so incredible – the camera team, the gaffers and his staff, the actors, or the direction team – that even though the shooting mode was ON day in and out, we were all on the same page, worrying about the same problem. It was a blessing, in a way, that we didn’t have to stop and reflect so we ended shooting the film in about 90 days. It should have taken us all easily 120 days but such was the intensity of our collaboration,” adds the cinematographer.

But the efficiency comes down to the relationship with actor-director Rishab Shetty, he says and uses the term ‘pulse’ to describe how they work professionally. Rishab Shetty is known to have a penchant for working without excessive planning and instead using the energy & rhythm of the day to control his shoot creatively. Still, for Arvind S. Kashyap, pragmatism is naturally ingrained in him because as the director of photography, he has to perpetually be wary of how every department (including his own) is functioning. And yet, the duo has struck an unusual chord and the collaboration is also revelatory for them.

“As much as I like to have a good balance of storyboarding the shots and having room to improvise on the sets, Kantara didn’t allow us that. But that’s also because Rishab is clear about what he wants visually and even though he is organic and goes with the flow, the clarity is there completely. We would move to the location almost 45 days before going for the shoot and spend each figuring out how to execute the various bits, work with actors, watch them rehearse, and then visit the locations to figure out the technical prep – a perfect team effort, in a way. Rishab would give us the idea of what the day’s portions would entail and we would take each thing as it comes, figuring the logistics then and there. And since the two of us get one another’s pulse and are quite open about our matters, work gets done with transparency.”

Perhaps that is why Arvind S. Kashyap is a pleased soul at the end of it all because it is apparent that he has overcome a sense of catharsis through the shoot. Aside from the fact that he is the most practical and rational guy on the set, his own personal journey saw him growing more optimistic and romantic about the craft of filmmaking. And although he still might ‘freak out’ at the first hearing of any whacky idea, he says there is more confidence to explore unknown territories.

“See, DOPs are meant to bear the burden of time on a film set and there’s no avoiding it. Every minute you spend working on an idea and trying to improvise, you are exhausting a lot of the money invested in those who are inactive at that moment. Your decisions directly affect how the rest of the film is shot but DOPs have to be decisive and that’s part of their job. But what I take away from the Kantara experience is that you can’t be pragmatic all the time and when something is outside your comfort zone, you must just forge on thinking that it ends up being fun. Because the opportunity is also rare to work on a subject and the filmmaking approach that’s so novel. Kantara is the perfect example of new-age filmmaking for me. Not only is the idea so rooted culturally but we are also telling the story through the best of technology: the film has and will open a lot of new doors us,” concludes Arvind S. Kashyap.

Kantara releases in cinema halls on September 30 and stars Rishab Shetty, Sapthami Gowda, and Kishore in the lead with Achyuth Kumar, Pramod Shetty, Vinay Bidappa, and others playing principal roles in the film. Vijay Kiragandur of Hombale Films (KGF: Chapter 1, KGF: Chapter 2, Salaar, etc.) has produced the upcoming film that has B. Ajaneesh Loknath’s music, national award-winning Vikram Mor’s action-choreography, Dharani Gange Putra’s production design, Pragathi Rishab Shetty’s costume design – K.M Prakash and Pratheek Shetty are the film’s editors.