I Worked As If Gaami Was My Last Film: Vidyadhar Kagita

“People say ignorance is bliss, right? That’s what helped us,” director Vidyadhar Kagita quips as he, along with producer Karthik Sabareesh, speaks about the multiple challenges they faced while making Gaami. This adventure film follows an aghori (played by Vishwak Sen) suffering from a rare condition that makes it impossible for him to sense human touch. And he sets out on a journey to the Himalayas to find a solution.

This ambitious film has been in production for more than 5 years and Vidyadhar remarks that they underestimated the challenges. He says, “We were stupid and naïve. We did not know what it takes, in terms of creative, technical and logistical challenges. So we just got into it and figured out something along the journey.” Karthik is quick to point out that if they had known these challenges much earlier, they would have dared to make this film. “One thing that gave me strength during all these challenges was the film and its idea. As long as we focused on the pursuit of the idea, it kept us going,” adds Karthik.

Gaami is a crowd-funded film and Karthik asserts that he avoided approaching any established financiers because they didn’t want any creative interference. “If we were making an easy, audience-pleasing film, anyone could produce it. In such a case, I personally feel there is no point in me producing it.” The director jokingly adds that Karthik figured out the art of producing a film without money. Although the team had to face multiple challenges, Karthik says, “I knew that I was safe with the film. Even if it isn’t profitable theatrically, I know we could break even with the OTT deal.” 

A lot of research and planning has gone into the making of the film. For instance, Vidyadhar personally travelled to all the places including Varanasi and Haridwar. He remarks that his personal experiences lend a certain ease to the character. Speaking about such journeys, the director also reminisces about a trek the team took to find a specific location. “We wanted to shoot on a glacier and we went to Khatling Glacier in India. We went for a location recce and it took us 11 days to get there. But we later learnt that the glacier got washed out in Uttarakhand floods and the entire trek became pointless. So whatever visuals the audience will see on the screen is a result of all these failures.”

Yet the biggest challenge was editing, the director admits. “It took me one and a half years to just edit the film. I was trying to find my own cinematic language; something that’s also palatable to a mainstream audience. I was clear from the beginning that I did not want to make some intellectual film. I think the film is emotionally challenging but not intellectually,” he says, adding that he would describe the film as an adventure film with the depth of a psychological thriller.

Vidyadhar further shares that they had specific designs, prep and making processes for every single scene. “I worked as if it was my last film. I told myself I would never get another opportunity to make a film; so I gave it all. We had a very small team of barely 5 people and we tried to do everything from scratch. A lot of small mad energies came together to make this film. They all own a piece of the film and it is their film as well.”

Gaami is scheduled to be released in theatres on March 8 this year.