Prasanth Nair, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and formerly, a lawyer who has been the District Collector of Kozhikode (2015-2017) is taking his independent short film, Daivakanam to the prestigious 71st Cannes Film Festival.
Not only this - Nair who also plays the role of Dr Samuel in the movie Who, will also premiere at Cannes 2018.
Considered as one of the most social media savvy IAS officers, Nair commands a large social media following on his official Facebook page due to his work in Kozhikode, as well. Nair, who earned his moniker Collector Bro due to his community-driven umbrella initiative called 'Compassionate Kozhikode', only chanced upon filmmaking because he wasn’t very “happy with the promo for the initiative” given by ad agencies. With some prodding by his friends and colleagues, he decided to make the promo himself.
And now Nair will take his debut film, Daivakanam to Cannes.
Before undertaking his current post as Secretary to the Central Minister for Tourism, India - Nair took a 10-month sabbatical and deep dived into the world of cinema. Besides making Daivakanam (which was shot over 2 days), he also co-scripted with national award winning director Anil Radhakrishnan Menon for the feature film Diwanjimoola Grandprix, a socio-political satire.
“The Cannes premiere and whatever else happens will be a bonus,” he says in an interview with The Times of India ahead of his visit to Cannes. Nair said his friend and filmmaker Anjali Menon pushed him to make Daivakanam as a “diploma film” and told him that he “need not even show it to anyone or put it on YouTube!”
I was planning a full-length feature film. She suggested I make a short film to gain confidence. I shot it like a diploma film of a film institute student which was not actually meant to be shown to the world. Everything else comes as bonus.Prasanth Nair to Deccan Chronicle
Talking about his acting stint in Ajay Devaloka’s Who, Nair said that he only took it up so that he can use the learning in the future.
The world premiere of Daivakanam (The God Particle) is at Court Metrage, Cannes Film Festival, 2018. The 15-minute film is about an astrologer who commits a forbidden astrological act of trying to freeze time, and gets caught in a loop. Weaving the musical and the mystical, the film depicts Man’s struggle to cope with knowledge of the future. Nair describes it as "essentially an abstract-mystical film with a philosophical touch”.
Getting there is so difficult. We know how strict restrictions are for a film festival in Kerala. Imagine then how it will be for Cannes. Barring some big names in Malayalam like Shaji N Karun, others are actually not much known at Cannes. About 90 per cent applicants face rejection for accreditation. We were really proud to get an invite.Prasanth Nair to Deccan Chronicle
The film is produced by Satish B Satish with Vinod Veerakumar as the Director of Photography. Music has been lent by Sreevalsan J Menon and sound given by Ajayan Adatt. Daivakanam stars Ramesh Varma and Nimisha Nambiar. Watch the trailer here.
In an interview with Forbes India, Nair describes the best part of filmmaking.
Nothing beats the creative satisfaction you get at the end of the day! That was something I never felt as an IAS officer.Prasanth Nair
(With inputs from The Times of India, Forbes India, Deccan Chronicle)
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