When the aliens arrive
Director Arun Chandu is savouring the success of his experimental, mockumentary
The white and blue NASA sweatshirt is a dead giveaway that Arun Chandu, the director of Gaganachari, is a space bu. That he is on cloud nine or beyond given the lm’s success at the box oce shows as he settles down for a chat. “Anyone who knows me, knows I am a space bu and a Carl Sagan fan. There is a Njaan Gandharvan poster with Carl Sagan’s face instead of Nitish Bharadwaj’s in the movie,” he says laughing.
The sci- lm, a mockumentary, set in a post-apocalyptic future, made in 2020-21, is drawing crowds into theatres. It is the latest, and unexpected entrant into the club of Malayalam lms that have done well in 2024.
Set in the 2040s, Gaganachari tells of a world under siege by aliens, threat of climate change and extremes of political ideology. Shot in the found footage technique, the action pans in on three men — Ganesh Kumar, Aju Varghese and Gokul Suresh — whose lives turn topsy-turvy when an alien (Aliyama essayed by Anarkali Marakar) arrives in their midst. The take could have been dark, but the clever writing takes o the edge and pop culture references abound.
Clever inspiration
The humour takes the edge o the socio-political commentary. Arun treads that ne line successfully in the lm littered with Malayalam pop culture references. A fan of mockumentaries, his favourite being the horror-comedy mockumentary series What We Do In The Shadows, he says, “After watching it I wanted to make something political, that would tell hard-hitting truths through the mockumentary lens. It would deliver it in a lighter tone,” he says. The truths come out in such a way that there is no space to take oence. Ganesh Kumar owns the lm as the middle-aged alien ‘hunter’ Victor Vasudevan, his comic timing spot on. The actor was part of Saajan Bakery, which was Arun’s second directorial. “There is no doubt about it…I wrote Victor with Ganesh sir in mind. His thekkan Keralam [south Kerala] swag is topnotch. He absolutely enjoyed being part of the lm, perhaps because he understood the potential of the lm,” Arun says.
Unlike most post-apocalyptic lms where the terrain is a desert (think Mad Max lms), Gaganachari looks more like it is submerged and ravaged by water. Rain and what comes with it, he says, is not romantic for him. “My home is in Aranmula which gets submerged any time it rains heavily. It is more of a nightmare for me. My mother lives there with our pet dog. Each time it starts pouring, I am constantly on the phone with her. So it had to be water for me, in a post-apocalyptic world.”
Written and lmed during the pandemic and lockdown, the three year wait for the lm’s theatre release was worth it. Arun calls it a blessing in disguise. “Usually a three year wait for a lm would mean that it topics discussed would ‘expire’. Fortunately for this lm, since it is set in the future, and we are in the future. Had it come out in 2025, it would have been the present because we reference 2025 in the lm!”
The lm, when he conceptualised it was dark and gory “more like A Quiet Place, there was an alien invasion but only darker. But Ajuettan (Aju Varghese) suggested I try the polar opposite, with humour.” Subsequently he sat down to rework it, following discussions with friends and US-based lm writer Rahul Menon and the story took shape. Writer Siva Sai came on board and the rest is history.
During the period it did festival runs at sci--based lm festivals and those featuring lms with a south Asian representation such as the LA Sci-Fi Film Festival and Nico Media Film Festival (NIFA). Of the 60-odd festivals it entered in the competition category, it won awards at around 25.
He agrees that making an experiment such as this may not have worked if the subject was dierent. For now, he is embracing the love Gaganachari is getting.
Gaganachari is playing in theatres