‘The core of documentary filmmaking lies in authenticity and ethical responsibility’

By Akash Gulankar
Pics by Shashank Sane
Be it Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes, Vinay Shukla’s While We Watched, Kartiki Gonsalves’ The Elephant Whisperers, Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s Nocturnes, Sarvnik Kaur’s Against The Tide or Amit Dutta's Rhythm of a Flower, Indian documentaries have been having their moment under the spotlight over the last few years. In a session at PIFF, filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni brought together Anupama, Sarvnik and Kuldeep to discuss the process of making a documentary, the response and struggles.

“It's about how you treat people—you can't manipulate events for the sake of a narrative. What started as a series of interviews, was later turned into a cinematic reflection of nature in Nocturnes,” said Anupama. Sarvnik added, "I spent six months looking for footage of fish for Against The Tide, only to realise that there was none. I had to accept it and portray it truthfully." The panellists also stressed on the significance of the consent to represent characters with dignity while making sure that their lives are not disturbed. The filmmakers unanimously asserted that the core of documentary filmmaking lies in authenticity and ethical responsibility.
“There is no rigid distinction between fiction and non-fiction. These documentaries are integrating cinematic elements to heighten the impact of the story.”
-Umesh Kulkarni, filmmaker
Kuldeep Barve, composer and co-writer of Rhythm of a Flower, a hand-drawn animated film on the life and music of classical vocalist Kumar Gandharva, spoke about how music binds a story and becomes a medium of weaving cinematic magic in films

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Nanook of the North
Searching for Sugar Man