Indian drama “Kidney,” the second feature from filmmaking siblings Aakarsh and Agrim Sansanwal, has been boarded by Shiladitya Bora’s Platoon One Films, which joins as co-producer ahead of the film’s slot in the Critics’ Picks Competition at Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).
The film is produced by Enfant Terrible Productions, the Mumbai outfit the brothers set up. Set in an isolated Indian village, it follows a young man and woman from feuding families who fall in love. When a quarrel over an inheritance revives old hostilities, their relationship comes under pressure from greed and treachery in a conflict not of their making.
“We made the film with very little money and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of spirit,” said Aakarsh Sansanwal. “When the budget ran out, the entire village, its farming community, stood behind us. They helped us through the hurdles and, in their own way, became part of the film’s journey. This film carries the hands and hearts of the people who helped bring it into the world.”
“Kidney” adds to a Platoon One slate that counts “Bayaan,” “Toh Ti Ani Fuji,” “Bhagwan Bharose,” “Minimum,” “Ghaath,” “Picasso” and “Yours Truly” among its titles.
The director said Platoon One was among the first to spot that spirit in the film and back what the brothers were attempting. “Their support gave the film a chance to travel beyond the world in which it was made and reach audiences we could only have hoped for. To see it now receive recognition and find its way into the light is deeply moving. My thanks to the Tallinn Black Nights team for discovering our film and giving it a place to shine.”
Tallinn’s Critics’ Picks strand spotlights films with a clear artistic point of view and a fresh take on storytelling, including work that wrestles with genre, cinema’s past and the social issues of the moment. Earlier selections include Arati Kadav’s “Mrs.,” starring Sanya Malhotra, as well as “The Brothers Kitaura,” “About Us But Not About Us” and “The Bone Breakers.”
Bora, who founded Platoon One, said that when he first watched “Kidney” he knew he was “looking at something different, something that hadn’t been attempted in quite this way.” He also pointed to the Sansanwals’ “strong and distinct voice.”
“It would be easy to dismiss a film like ‘Kidney’ as esoteric, but what struck me was the depth of emotion underneath its craft and form,” Bora said. “There is a dense, deeply felt emotional layer running through the film, and the film’s unique style becomes a way of expressing that emotion rather than an end in itself. That is exactly the kind of cinema Platoon One wants to stand behind: original, distinctive and deeply rooted voices. I couldn’t let go of this film after I saw it.”
The brothers divide their time between Mumbai and Delhi. Aakarsh has worked as an assistant director to Reema Kagti, Abhinay Deo and Pushpendra Misra, while Agrim trained as a filmmaker with a focus on editing and assisted editor Deepa Bhatia on “Skater Girl.”
The pair co-wrote and co-directed their first feature, the experimental “To Caterpillar, From Butterfly,” which debuted at the Dharamshala International Film Festival.