Amaan Ahmad’s ‘Carnitapu’ is an ode to creative people who are unrecognised

The silent short film recently got an official selection for official selection for the London Director’s Award.

A touch of experimentalism inspires Hyderabad-based director Amaan Ahmed. The director is elated that his silent, short film Carnitapu, has been officially selected for the London Director’s award. C arnitapu has won 17 Indian and International awards and selections to date.e 14.35-minute-long short film shot in an abandoned house in Srinagar Colony deals with an artist who receives a pamphlet of ‘Carnitapu’, a strange art festival. She sets out on a psychological expedition to create an artwork, putting her sanity at stake. Aniket Shah who plays the character of the artist’s lover in the film is a specially-abled person.

The artists worked on their expressions on the set with hand-written notes and not a script. “I wanted the artists to show spontaneity,” he says.

Carnitapu’s story deals with the girl (Krishna Soni), who needs to collect elements to create an artwork, a dot that represents the universe. The judges of the show like her work but reject it because of politics and nepotism. “The story is a message to the judges but ironically we won the award. I wanted to show how politics and nepotism influence the awards. Krishna Soni chops off her real hair in one shot in the film.”

The word ‘Carnitapu’ does not exist and the director thought of ‘carnival’ and ‘island’ to create the term. “The strange art festival in the film takes place in some dimension, which could be in one’s subconscious mind too. Carnitapu is for all creative people who go unrecognised in this world. Many succeed with commercial elements and contacts but what about those whose universe is their true work of art?” he wonders.

Amaan’s Hindi production Badlav staged two years ago was a step towards inclusivity as it featured transwoman Harshini Mekala in the role of BIndiya. Now he hopes to bring new plays with different storylines and also focus on feature films. The post-production work of Obli vion, his feature film in English with only two characters, is currently on. “The story deals with the existence of human origin. The philosophy of absurdism, experimentalism, existentialism and realism s present in my works. People are slowly opening up to these concepts here,” says the director.