While we all sit in our houses confined within four walls, the world outside is undergoing a drastic lifestyle change. We all are on this journey of isolation with minimal social interaction. For many of us, the question remains open: what can be done during the lockdown? Youngsters from the city of Hyderabad came to make a movie on isolation.
Polar Night has been directed and written by Rakesh Asileti, with a cast featuring Sonakshi Verma and Chidananda. The film is an artistic display of the current time of quarantine and the quest to see the light ahead. The story revolves around a man who lives in a city that witnesses one of the rarest geographical phenomena known as polar night, and how his relationships with people around him get affected. The psychological and emotional journey of the protagonist is an analogy of the current situation that people are experiencing during the lockdown.
The project was shot with a minimal crew of two people, one behind the camera and the other using technology. “We deliberately used minimal resources; only a mobile phone and basic editing tools to complete the film to pass on a message on the utilisation of resources within the periphery.”
The intent of the movie is to present a surreal thought to the audience about the normality of isolation and its impact on humans. It also produces a narrative on how people in multiple geographies are bound to live a lifestyle of isolation on a day-to-day basis. This movie will make people ponder over how to respect the time they get out of self-isolation, and provoke thoughts on self-reflection. The entire movie has been shot within a house, confined to a single room with only a single camera and sequence.
About the movie, Asileti says, “The vision behind the movie was to make my story reach a wide audience, and generalise the idea that isolation is something so common in many places. The film also explores how isolation impacts the people around us, our family members, people we love, grandparents etc.” He adds, “It’s important to know that we are always surrounded by people and miss out many human connections time and again. This is the time when we must sit back, truly care for each other, and invest time in building those bonds we’ve missed.”
The movie is in English, as the maker wanted to make it accessible to a wider audience. The movie aims to release on multiple platforms. The makers are also looking for potentially interested distributors who believe in the cause and can make it accessible for the communities.