Krishand’s sci-fi film ‘Masthishka Maranam’ wins awards

Back in February, National Award winning filmmaker RK Krishand’s first commercial film Masthishka Maranam: A Frankenbiting of Simon’s Memories hit the big screen. For any ardent film buff, Krishand’s movieverse is familiar. The movie sat in the liminal space between reality, truth and altered reality, discussing larger themes such as consumption economy, technology, voyeurism, artificial intelligence, male gaze, social media, and attention economy.

His fans rushed in, and so did the motley crowd of cinegoers. The movie, written and directed by Krishand, could bring in profit, but it did polarise the crowd, you either loved it or you didn’t. And Krishand knows this too.

But the movie has already bagged three awards. Krishand got the award for the Best Editor and Best VFX at the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival while Prayag Mukundan got the award for Best DOP at CUMAC for his work.

Krishand receiving the awards at Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival
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Instead of playing it safe for his first commercial release, Krishand chose to go with a relatively less explored theme in Malayalam cinema and spin an absurdist, dystopian sci-fi film. On doing this, Krishand says that much thought and marketing had also gone into checking the viability of the movie. In a way he was trying to ensure that the producers would be willing to experiment with the theme, while also trying to create a space for other dreamers too.

“I meet several young filmmakers who want to make sci-fi movies in Malayalam. I believe that this movie did set a stage for that,” he says.

He adds that while the movie does discuss larger issues, it does so with a sense of humour, instead of being overtly academic and philosophical.

“You see a blend of George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World in the movie. So there is extreme surveillance, and at the same time we are too busy to be bothered about climate change or gender rights. We also brought out a cassette futurism treatment for the movie, carrying forth a retro futuristic world,” he says.

Masthishka Maranam is Krishand’s 5th movie. In addition to the movie, the last 6 months saw him bring out a feature film Sangarsha Ghadana and a series The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang. He had formerly written and directed Aavasavyuham and directed Purusha Pretham.

As the awards arrive, he is halfway through writing the script for a sequel to the movie which will feature a leading Malayalam actress. Having left the movie open-ended, Krishand has also given infinite interpretations for the movie. But the much talked about sequel will give all the answers cinegoers are grappling for, while also focussing on the futuristic Kerala’s political landscape. Other projects in pipeline include a Darshana- Tovino starrer and one with a leading Malayalam actor, among others.

So what makes him tick? “I think the dopamine running out because of age makes me vigorous till I have nothing interesting left in the artist window. And the artist’s window closes not from fatigue, but from the absence of discovery,” he says.