Madhyantara director Basti Dinesh interview | 'Even in my wildest dreams, I didn't expect a National Award'

When a 54-year-old film industry veteran, who started his career in the movies as a light boy and went on to become a cinematographer, makes a 39-minute short film that wins two National Awards, it is the stuff of anyone's 'wildest' dreams.

But, that's what happened to the New Delhi-based Basti Dinesh Shenoy. Having worked in the industry for 27 long years, he wanted to make a film capturing all that magic, the sparkle and glory of cinema – like an "ode to cinema". And, also to test his hold on the visual medium in the hope of making a full-length feature in the future.

To his surprise, the Kannada short film, 'Madhyantara' (Interval), which tells the journey of two people in love with films become filmmakers, got screened in the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

What's more, he won the Best Debut Film of a Director and the editor, Suresh Urs, also won the National Award for Best Editing at the 70th National Awards.

Talking to The Federal, Dinesh Shenoy shared how he felt when he first heard that ‘Madhyantara’ won two prestigious National Awards.

He was shooting a corporate film on St Mark’s Road in Bengaluru when he heard the news that Suresh Urs, the film editor, got an award for the film. "I immediately called Suresh Urs and congratulated him. Within minutes, Suresh called me back and congratulated me, saying I got the Best Debut Film of a Director Award. I was taken aback. It took some time for the news to sink in that my film had actually bagged two national awards,” Shenoy confesses.

When ‘Madhyantara’ presented by InFocus Pictures, was shown to a selected focus group in Bengaluru in September 2022, another filmmaker Dayal Padmanabhan pushed Shenoy to submit the film to the Indian Panorama Section of IFFI held in Goa.

He was really surprised when ‘Madhyantara’ was selected for screening in the Indian Panorama Section under the Non-Feature Film category. It was Dayal Padmanabhan again who persuaded Shenoy to get the film censored and submit it for the National Awards.

“Even in my wildest dreams, I didn’t expect the film to get the National Award. I was really surprised,” says Shenoy. Yes, ‘Madhyantara’ made a big splash at the 70th National Film Awards among films like 'Kantara' and 'KGF-2'.

Shenoy, who started his film career as a humble light boy, could not hide his elation when he heard that he will be conferred the Swarna Kamal.

Shenoy, who hails from Thumbe near Mangaluru, actually wanted to make a full-length feature film. However, this ad filmmaker decided to first make a short film to pitch the idea for a feature film to producers. ‘Madhyantara’ is ‘Act-1’ of a full-length feature film, says Shenoy.

What motivated Shenoy to make ‘Madhyantara’, which explores the journey of two pedestrian cine buffs as they foray into filmmaking and their eventful transformation as directors in due course.

“I was completely stuck during the pandemic. During the lockdown period, I came across interviews of people, who have been in the industry for the past 50 years and were suffering because of no work in the industry. Their shattered dreams and plight forced me to make a film on what attracted them to the magic of cinema despite the challenges and how they innovate in such circumstances. Also, for me, the art of cinema has a universal appeal that transcends borders and barriers people all over the world,” explains Shenoy.

Of course ‘Madhyantara’ is a sincere and earnest effort to capture the charm and glory of Kannada cinema of the 70s and 80s, which shaped the sensitivity of generations of Kannada cinema-goers. In a way ‘Madhyantara’ is a symbolic tribute to the nearly century-old Kannada cinema.

Does the story of ‘Madhyantara’ mirror his own journey in cinema? Though Shenoy studied cinematography, he failed to get a job immediately and began his career as a light boy, just like his characters in ‘Madhyantara’. Shenoy’s struggles as a filmmaker in the late 90s are all in the film.

“Even though the film chronicles the cinema of the 70s and 80s in a way, some elements of my struggle are in there. Yes, the film is fictional, but inspired by true events,” Shenoy admits emotionally.

Sunil Borker, who held the camera for Ram Reddy’s recent film ‘The Fable’ starring Manoj Bajpayee and Shashidhara Adapa, one of the renowned art directors in India and editor Suresh Urs, supported Shenoy in his debut endeavour.

Dinesh Shenoy himself has worked closely with stalwarts of cinema including Wes Anderson, Adrien Brody, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Aamir Khan, and Ashutosh Govarikar in various capacities, including as their production manager.

What is his fascination with the Intermission in a film? An interval is a quaint essential character of Indian cinema – Indian films are structured with an ‘Intermission’ or ‘Interval’ fixed at around a crucial part in the telling of the story in the film.

“In one of the interviews, a producer revealed a story, where he and his best friend shared a single movie ticket, where one watched the movie from the beginning to interval and the other the second half,” recounts Shenoy, who claims this was an 'Eureka’ moment, which led him to weave a thread around this concept.

With his experience, Shenoy decided to pay homage to cinema itself and shot the film in 16 mm format.

“Before the onset of the digital age, movies from the 70s and 80s, and even till 2013, were shot on film cameras. Today, digital cameras have made filmmaking easy and cheaper. However, a film camera captures images and renders a peculiar cinematic quality to the visuals that digital cameras cannot produce. Cinema legends such as Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan still produce their masterpieces using film cameras. Nothing can offer a feeling of the 70s and 80s like the look and feel of a movie produced using a film camera with celluloid,” Shenoy observes.

Opting for celluloid proved costly for Shenoy. “You have to spend more on lighting, while shooting with a film camera, compared to a digital camera. Similar, is the cost of processing the film. But, I got support from my friends such as Naveen Shetty, a well-known colourist, who settled in Mumbai to make the project cost-effective,” recollects Shenoy, thanking everyone who supported this debut crowd-funded project.

Shenoy’s efforts did not go in vain, ‘Madhyantara’ finally evolved as a delightful, whimsical story about friendship and passion for cinema, which transports the audience to that time and space. No doubt, it is a perfect rendering of a cinema era. This is what many felt as they watched the film on September 18 at Renukamba Mini Theatre.

However, many viewers questioned the use of a yellow colour palette in the film. Shenoy defends his choice: “Yes, yellow is a common thread in the film seen from the first frame to the last. I chose yellow because it symbolizes optimism, energy, joy, happiness and friendship.”

Shenoy is excited after his National Award win, eagerly waiting for a producer with a passion and sensitivity for cinema, to help him tell the second half of ‘Madhyantara’ – and complete the story that unfolds after the interval.