Gender bias, discrimination and distinctions regarding class are prevalent in India, and the world at large. When Tariq Vasudeva’s movie ‘Circus’ was premiered at the 40th Moscow International Film Festival, the audience was shocked to witness an Indian film maker dealing with such deeper truths of the society because many were expecting a typical Bollywood movie. The movie ‘Circus’ is also the only Indian movie to be selected among 12 films from all over the world in the main competition section of the festival. The theatre-actor turned director Tariq Vasudeva wrote the movie almost two years ago. ‘Circus’ is the story of two individuals – a woman who is upset about the bias against women in her office and a man who works as a a domestic helper at a wealthy home who is struggling to find his purpose. This movie touches the roots of male chauvinism and misogynistic attitudes which are deeply ingrained in our society. This is what Vasudeva had to share with HotFridayTalks.com.
“It was quite unexpected, but it ended up being very important that the film was selected at the Moscow International Film Festival”, says Tariq. “I’ve always had strong feelings about the violence that women are subjected to these days, and especially the Nirbhaya incident inspired me to create a short film to try and explore the deep-rooted causes of this menace. I’ve also had thoughts about the class differences that exist in India. So, these are the basic ideas that I had in mind when I started writing Circus, and I wanted to have a blend of a realistic yet cinematic portrayal of the circumstances prevalent in the cities in India”, says Tariq about Circus.
Tariq’s treatment of the plot and characters and screenplay is quite different from regular movies. “Circus is definitely very different from regular Bollywood movies” Tariq says. “The film does not have any music; it only has very minimal sound design. The sounds in the film are mostly realistic and natural sounds. We have not used much artificial lights either, but mostly natural light to make it look as realistic as possible. I’ve tried to explore the psychology of the characters, to explore what’s going on in their minds.” says Tariq. Even dream sequences in Circus are shot in a realistic way, without the conventional use of lights and colours.
Tariq sadly also commented how difficult it is to get realistic movies with serious matter released in India, since we are so overly dominated by mainstream commercial cinema. “My film Circus deals with sensitive issues. It’s a completely independent film and a low-budget production. I saved the money up for 2 years to make this short film” he says. “It involved a lot of hard work. I used to transport the lighting equipment myself and everyone, except the production boys, worked for free with a passion to somehow complete the project.”
Tariq feels it is very important for the film to send the message across and remind viewers of the glaring class differences and violence against women that is still so prevalent in India. “Making a comedy out of a social issue, portraying them as social satires are not going to help much, unless we all realise why these issues are happening”, Tariq remarks.
Tariq feels it is important that people try to make original, independent films with strong storylines that are not just made for entertainment but deal with our current lives and the prevailing social issues.
We congratulate Tariq for his success at his very first attempt of making a film and we look forward to many more courageous films in the future.
