Painting Life is a 2018 Indian Englishfilm written and directed by Bijukumar Damodaran commonly known as Dr. Biju. The film jointly produced by Silicon Media and BlueOcean Pictures depicts the experience of a film crew which gets stranded in a remote Himalayan village.
Plot
The crew led by a hit Bollywoodfilmmaker arrives there to shoot a song and dance sequence for their upcoming blockbuster. Soon they find themselves cut off from the outside world after torrential downpours and landslides. They are trapped with no basic amenities or means of communication and are totally at the mercy of the forces of nature. The team, having been accustomed only to the breakneck pace and luxury of urban life, struggles to cope with the total isolation and the rough conditions. They are forced to interface closely with nature and the local folk and experience life at a much gentler pace. They also get exposed to the challenges faced by the local people. For the director, who has been highly successful commercially, cinema is mainly an entertainment business with no connect to the real world or social issues. He saw the valley as merely a picturesque locale for his shoot. Through a series of intense and unforgettable experiences, he begins to see the reality beyond. His eyes open to the travails of the breathtakingly beautiful land and its beleaguered residents. How those eventful days under siege, affect the thoughts and priorities of the filmmaker, both on the personal and filmmaking fronts, forms the central theme of the film.
Painting Life is the first English feature film directed by Dr. Biju, whose earlier eight films have won five national film awards, four Indian panorama selections, thirteen kerala state film awards and many other national and international accolades including selections to reputed film festivals like Cannes, Montreal, Cairo, Iran, Shanghai, Eurasia, Telluride, Jeonju, Tallinn, IFFK, IFFI and NYIFF. His first film Saira premiered in Cannes Film Festival in 2007 under Cinemas of the world section. M. J. Radhakrishnan, the 7-times winner of Kerala State Film Awards for Best Cinematography, is behind the camera. He is also the recipient of many international accolades including Caméra d'Or for the film Marana Simhasanam in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Renowned Singaporean composer Mark Chan is composing the background score of the film. The sound design, recording and mixing are performed by the National award-winning team of Jayadevan Chakkadath and Pramod Thomas. The film is co-produced by Silicon Media, known for its arthouse productions which have fetched more than 15 Kerala state film awards and many international recognitions including festival selections to Berlin, Montreal, BFI, Durban, Kerala, Trinidad-Tobago etc.
Production
Casting
Painting Life is a truly pan Indian project with a cast and crew from 10 different Indian states. The cast of the film includes Prakash Bare, Geetanjali Thapa, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Ravi Singh, Purav Goswami, Meera Vasudevan, Phuntsok Ladakhi, Noksha Saham, Kinzong Bhutia, Master Govardhan, Tensing Lepcha, Melwyn Williams, Krishnan Balakrishnan, Yancho Bhutia and Arjun. Geetanjali is also the winner of National Film Award for Best Actress in 2013.
Filming
The film is shot entirely in Sikkim, an Indian state that borders China. With its magnificent landscapes and stunning vistas, the state itself features as a major character in the movie. The movie also talks about the rampant dam construction which has systematically choked off all the rivers and badly impacted the ecology of this once-pristine state. A number of NGOs and activists from the state who continue to work tirelessly against projects that threaten the ecosystem of Sikkim, were associated with the movie both on and behind the camera.
