Writer-director Arati Kadav has made one of the most talked about original feature films of 2020 for Netflix India. Kadav has received massive and well deserved critical acclaim and accolades from viewers for the film that is based on the story of a spaceship named Pushpak 634A where a demon Prahastha, works for the Post Death Transition services with the help of a female astronaut, where dead people are recycled for rebirth.
Asian Voice reached out to Arati Kadav to know more about her roots, her stellar education and a departure from the tech industry to the world of films.
Kadav grew up in the late 80s and 90s and being part of Indian middle class, there was lots of stress on Science and Maths on her. “If you are in one of the tier 2 cities in India the general unsaid understanding is to study your way out of that city. And so we slogged and I remember even going for tuition classes at 5 am during my 12th standard. Fortunately for me I was good in studies so I did not suffer the system much - or at least that's what I thought. I had lots of inclination towards arts and story writing and even poetry but that passion existed in fringes and it was never encouraged. One good thing was that I learned lots of rigor and precision through this journey and it helped me crack IIT and also maybe because I loved coding I went ahead and got a job in Microsoft, Seattle,” she said.
However, she always felt that she had a wilder imagination than her peers and she really felt restless to break away. Speaking about how she forayed into films, she said, “I got myself a video camera and it started providing me endless possibilities. Leaving my job was a risky move, but I just felt like trying out a film school to know more. I was young and confident so I took the plunge. So yes, in my earlier years, my aspirations were to confirm. Now I just like being super disobedient in terms of stories I want to tell.”
We asked her how studying science shaped her perspective as a filmmaker. Arati said, “I really consume lots of books and stories on scifi and surprisingly for me lots of my favourite authors were really steeped in science and their initial experiments in coding shaped their imaginary world view a lot. I used to design lots of systems and games and I guess that has helped me a lot in designing fantastical worlds and filling it with details. So I guess my science training gave foundations to my passion for world building. It came in handy especially because no one in India does scifi so we never had sufficient budgets. So it helped me innovate within restrictions and not give up.”
In many of her interviews online she has stated that her film Cargo is based on the premise of “longing and departure”. Commenting on her idea of life and afterlife as an individual, she said, “I think what makes life beautiful is the fact that it is finite. The ephemeral quality is probably what makes it most attractive. I don't think there is any afterlife as such. But we all leave traces, in terms of relationships we have built, lives we have affected. We exist in the fingerprint we leave in this world and even after death, we exist in the form of the impact we have made in this world.”
In an intriguing scene in Kadav’s film, Cargo, two souls travel together into the after-life, signifying that souls find each other no matter where they go. We asked Kadav how much she believes in this concept herself. She said, “This is very tricky. At a pure science and reasoning level I don't. I think lots of us can get together with lots of people and have meaningful relationships. In Fact sometimes we evolve together in a beautiful way so I don't think we are factory made for eachother. But there is this lovely thing in Cat's Cradle where Kurt Vonnegut talks about karasse - people we share this world with - a bunch of people, are reborn again and again in the company of same people which I find very fascinating. So I weaved that in Cargo.”
But what is it like to be a woman filmmaker in such sensitive and fiercely competitive times in India? Arati said, “I sometimes really feel that women have to work twice as hard to be half as successful. We do have women directors (more now that 10 years ago) - but in my journey I have seen myself and my ideas being dismissed way too often. There were moments where I used to be tempted to dismiss myself because of constant rejections. But thank God, I realized that most of the people dismissing me are themselves largely hacks. Honestly, I am immensely grateful to my core team, my film school folks who continued to believe in me and my family, especially my mother, and I was glad that even if you live in a ecosystem that constantly ignores you, you will find truly feminist people, who not just support you but also enable your passion.”
Cargo has received exceptional response both from critics and audiences. We asked if she was anticipating this magnitude of success while making the film. She said, “Not really! I was preparing a whatsapp list of my friends and was hoping they would promote the film but I was amazed at the automatic reach a platform like Netflix provides. I was also happy that it worked so well for young people and they created so many videos about the film. It touched me and made me realize the impact of every creative decision I take while making a film. It was truly a great learning and it was super encouraging.”
Lastly, we asked her if she were to give one piece of advice to any aspiring filmmaker/storyteller who has a story to tell and doesn’t know where to start, what would it be. “Just make your film. Don't wait for permission. But also study and learn a lot- take time in perfecting your craft - because knowledge of the craft will really help you make your film better,” Arati said.
