Chaitanya Tamhane on 'The Disciple': ‘It's the marriage of researching & finding nuances'

Filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane who is all set to present his second international project The Disciple after the critically acclaimed 2014 Marathi courtroom drama Court, explained the importance of cinema. The filmmaker's last film Court was announced as India's official submission for the 88th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The actor recently expressed his opinions on cinema which he considered as a medium to 'explore insecurities, find nuances and contradictions, and transforming it into a living, breathing story.' His upcoming film is set to release on Netflix on April 30. 

Chaitanya Tamhane opens up about his next film

The Marathi film, set in the world of classical music in contemporary Mumbai, encapsulates the journey of Sharad Nerulkar (actor-musician Aditya Modak), who diligently follows the traditions and discipline of the old masters his guru, and his father and devotes his life to becoming a Hindustani classical music vocalist. However, as the years go by, Sharad starts to wonder whether it's really possible to achieve the excellence he's striving for.

The director told PTI about the reasons why the film is special for him. "It's the marriage of researching and finding nuances, contradictions, and complexities in this alien world of the Indian classical music, which I had no idea about, and marrying it to themes that are deeply personal to you, concerns that you have about yourself and the world and your own insecurities.” "And then all of this is sort of transformed into an organic and, hopefully, living, breathing story, which you realise through the medium of cinema," the 34-year-old added.

The upcoming project will be bankrolled by Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron. Cuaron, who met Tamhane through the Rolex Mentor & Protg Arts Initiative for 201617, was so impressed with the story that he decided to produce it. Cuaron was full of praise for Tamhane when the two sat down for an interview to promote the film ahead of its release on Netflix on April 30. 

Both the director and Cuaron considered the film’s story grounded in humanity. "Yes, there is an increasing focus on individualism and success and we are a capitalistic, conquest-driven society right now. That's something… I kind of wanted to get away from and explore something more real. So the film, like Alfonso said, is grounded in humanity, about the gaze, about the nuanced gap between success and failure where most of us lie," Tamhane said

The upcoming film won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize and the Best Screenplay award at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. It was also screened at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was named a winner of the Amplify Voices Award.

(With inputs from PTI)

(Image credit: Maja Medic/ Facebook/ The Disciple Film/ Instagram)