Winning at Busan International Film Festival has made my standard of filmmaking high: Jaishankar Aryar

Bagging a first-of-its-kind award is first-time filmmaker Jaishankar Aryar, with a big win at the Busan International Film Festival this year for his film, Shivamma. For Aryar, this was a dream come true. He shares, “I knew about the film festival since many years, as it is known to be the biggest festival of Asia. When I attended it, I was mesmerised by the beauty of the city (Busan, South Korea) and the hospitality of the people. I am grateful for the win. It has made my standard of filmmaking high.”

The 31-year-old, who quit his job as an IT engineer at a software company to make a film, talks about the process and says, “The journey of making this film was full of challenges. I quit my job without any financial backup during the pandemic and started working on this film. I worked with people from a village, and they were not professional actors. It was a nightmare. Due to the experimental way of shooting, the editing was a challenge. It took us more than six months to complete that.”

But amid the chaos, a silver lining had appeared. Kantara (2022) actor and filmmaker Rishab Shetty got on board as Shivamma’s producer, which boosted Aryar’s confidence. “Having him as a producer gave me courage to do the film in my own style, without having to worry about financial failure. He was busy in three of his projects at that time. He gave me complete freedom.”

Talking about what the audiences can expect from the new filmmaker, Aryar shares, “I would like to explore similar, realistic styles for my next film and then I have plans to change the style. Yes, I do have a bigger goal that I would like to talk about only when it has been accomplished. I am around the kind of people who don’t understand the weight of what I have achieved, so it keeps me grounded.”