Cannes: Sexual Repression in India and an ‘Agra’ With out a Taj Mahal

After his debut function “Titli” bowed at Cannes’ Un Sure Regard strand in 2014, Kanu Behl is again on the Croisette with “Agra,” which has its world premiere on the Administrators’ Fortnight.

” ‘Agra’ grasps the truth of patriarchy in India by the prism of male sexual distress,” is how the pageant describes the movie. It follows Guru, a younger single name heart worker who nonetheless lives together with his mother and father. Consumed by frustration, he plunges right into a fever bordering on madness, between pathetic fantasies, relationship apps and hysterical self-harm. The movie additionally explores the function property can play in a younger man’s emancipation.

After the theatrical launch of “Titli” in India and France in 2015, Behl started eager about what to do subsequent. “I noticed that I had felt a sure sexual repression or an incapability to precise myself sexually in my adolescent years,” Behl instructed Selection. The filmmaker realized that he was not an remoted case and noticed many examples round him. “There’s this virtually quite common delayed sexual maturity that occurs in India and I actually began eager about that,” Behl stated including that it’s a topic not spoken about.

The subsequent step for Behl was to take a look at the topic in a broader context. “I noticed that culturally, socially, politically, we’re a really distinctive nation. We’re one of many two most populous international locations on the planet, with China, however China has an enormous landmass. And we’re virtually the identical variety of folks very intently packed in collectively and we’ve got no house. And that someplace, clicked, and rounded off with my very own private expertise of residing in a small house with too many individuals shut by. And I noticed that how sexuality impacts our bodily areas, and the way these bodily areas have an effect on our sexuality in flip, was one thing that was much more thrilling – it was not a gaze that somebody had taken on a topic like this,” Behl stated.

As soon as the screenplay, by Behl and Atika Chohan, was written, the following stage was to search out financing. The undertaking participated within the 2015 Asian Mission Market at Busan and it was a protracted highway forward for “Agra.” William Jéhannin who had labored with Behl on “Titli” was on board through his UFO Manufacturing and the undertaking tapped into CNC funds in France. Some 40% of the finances was in place by mid-2017, but it surely took two extra years to search out the best companions in India.

Throughout this time, Behl directed the brief “Binnu Ka Sapna” (2019), which gained the youth jury award at Clermont-Ferrand. Saregama India ultimately boarded “Agra,” with Vikram Mehra and Siddharth Anand Kumar as producers. The corporate, through its Yoodlee Movies division, had a monitor document of backing unbiased movies, together with Rotterdam and Busan choice “Ajji” and London Movie Pageant title “Axone.”

“As a studio, we’ve got strategically supported clutter-breaking tales with smaller budgets and robust content material. ‘Agra’ was a part of this technique to inform untold tales and the theme itself was very highly effective because it addresses the necessity for private house and the way its lack can influence household dynamics and a person’s psyche. We wished to let this movie unfold with none inventive interference and to help Kanu Behl’s imaginative and prescient wholeheartedly,” Kumar instructed Selection.

“Agra” ultimately filmed in June and July 2019. In 2020, when the movie was in the midst of publish manufacturing, the pandemic hit and every little thing was shut down for 5 months. “It has simply been a journey to place the movie collectively, to edit it, as a result of it’s additionally a movie that features on a really skinny line. As as a lot as you wish to empathize with this boy and take a look at the entire subject of sexuality and sexual repression from the within, you additionally don’t wish to condone in any method what he’s doing.”

The movie was shot on location in Agra, town recognized for the Taj Mahal, but additionally for its Institute of Psychological Well being and Hospital. For Behl, it was a deliberate selection to not present even a glimpse of one of many world’s most well-known monuments. “I actually wished to subvert that as a result of the movie anyway will not be concerning the Taj Mahal or that facet of town,” Behl stated, including that he obtained the thought of taking pictures in Agra due to the hospital. “All of us simply dwell in a large madhouse. And in that sense, this home full of those loopy folks can also be a illustration of that madhouse,” Behl stated.

Guru is performed by debutant Mohit Agarwal and the movie additionally stars Priyanka Bose (“Lion”) and Ruhani Sharma, Vibha Chibber, Sonal Jha and Aanchal Goswami in pivotal roles. Guru’s father is performed by Rahul Roy, recognized for his romantic lead roles within the Nineteen Nineties, together with blockbuster “Aashiqui.”

“The character is a serial womanizer so we wanted a sure charming, debonair high quality to the person. However we additionally wanted on the similar time, a really crushed, failed vibe to the man,” Behl stated.

Subsequent up for Behl is “Despatch,” starring Manoj Bajpayee and produced by Ronnie Screwvala. The movie is in post-production and sure for a fall pageant. “It’s a movie about an old-fashioned crime journalist who’s getting defunct on the planet of digital journalism. And, in desperation for a narrative, he begins investigating a case and finally ends up getting combined in one thing which is means above his pay grade, and the way that begins an odyssey into the darkest corners of company crime and white-collar crime inside India,” Behl stated.

“Agra” premieres on Could 24.