‘I Am Nothing’, a documentary by Ronak Kamat on the late Goan artist Vamona Navelcar, will premiere in Goa on July 13
CHRISTINE MACHADO | NT BUZZ
When writer-director Ronak Kamat first met the late Goan artist Vamona Navelcar in 2015, he came away enchanted but also troubled. “After wrapping up our shoot in Pomburpa for the documentary ‘Caazu’, Anne Ketteringham, the British writer who penned Vamona’s biography, invited us to his house to meet him,” he recalls. “I had never met anyone like him, an artist, professor, philosopher, poet, and writer. He was everything one could aspire to be. Yet, he wasn’t recognised in Goa.”
Navelcar’s work and life spanned three continents—Asia, Europe, and Africa. These experiences, Kamat notes, were “incredible, often absurd and dangerous,” and his story, “utterly fascinating”. But at the time, Kamat felt he was too young to take on the challenge of making a film about him.
Two years later, when Marius Fernandes organised a festival to honour Navelcar, he asked Kamat to make a short film about the artist’s life. Kamat eagerly agreed. Along with Ashley Fernandes, who handled sound design and music, Kamat met Navelcar and several figures, eventually shooting far more footage than expected. “While the event was a success, I felt conflicted. I wanted the film to be longer, I wanted to tell the larger story. It felt incomplete,” says Kamat.
So, he met with Navelcar again and interviewed others from the art world. Over the next eight years, ‘I Am Nothing’ slowly took shape. “The entire process of making this film felt like sculpting a piece of art. It was longer and more distinctive than anything I had done before. I knew what I wanted to say, but how it would come together, I left that to the process of discovery,” he says.
The making of this now one-hour feature documentary, he adds, broke many filmmaking conventions. “My script kept changing, and I embraced improvisation, while shooting and during editing,” Kamat explains. “The greatest lesson I learned was to disregard conventional documentary-making rules and simply follow the emotion. Everything taught in screenwriting and filmmaking books can make cinema feel like a PowerPoint presentation for an MBA student. But art has no rules.”
Kamat believes ‘I Am Nothing’ is his most emotional work to date. “My other projects have often been defined by genre: ‘Bare’ (2021) was a thriller, ‘Scars’ (2017) was a drama, and ‘Caazu’ (2015) was a documentary that carried some emotional weight. But ‘I Am Nothing’ is personal. Its emotional resonance is unique.”
While a rough cut of the film was screened in Portugal a few years ago, the final version of ‘I Am Nothing’ will premiere in Goa on July 13 at the Museum of Goa, Pilerne. “We’re excited to finally share ‘I Am Nothing’ with audiences in our homeland and most importantly, Vamona’s homeland,” says Kamat.
The film will also be screened at the Museu do Oriente in Lisbon, Portugal, on September 5.
“Vamona is deeply cherished in Portugal and Mozambique. I know he would have been pleased to have his story shared in Portugal,” says Kamat. “I believe and hope that the selflessness and sincerity with which we crafted this film will connect with viewers in the way it was intended.”
“Vamona never cared about advertising himself”
Ronak Kamat believes that artists who don’t self-promote are often overlooked, a key reason, he says, for Vamona Navelcar’s long-standing obscurity. “In our society, few people seek out unpromoted talent. Most gravitate toward chart-topping music, trending films, or popular TV shows. How many truly invest in discovery? Vamona never cared about advertising himself. When someone is that indifferent to recognition, they’re often overshadowed by those who seek the spotlight,” he says.
The director notes that Navelcar’s work is better known today than it was a decade ago, thanks to the efforts of individuals like Marius Fernandes, Anant Navelcar, and the late Margaret Mascarenhas, an important figure in the film. “Yet, I’m not fully satisfied,” Kamat admits. “But what can we do? We live in an era of paid PR. Vamona likely saw this coming. He understood that publicity could be bought and chose to reject it.”
The beauty of ‘nothingness’
‘I Am Nothing’ explores Navelcar’s artistry, philosophy, and resilience, revealing a man who valued humility and creativity over fame. The documentary weaves archival images, thoughtful conversations, and an original soundtrack by Ashley Fernandes. It highlights important moments, including his playful “clown series” and expressive single-stroke line drawings, showcasing both technical skill and emotional depth.
It also addresses the tragedy of his lack of recognition in Goa, where his global contributions were often eclipsed by nationalist narratives.
The film invites viewers to see through Navelcar’s eyes, a world where art isn’t about ego, but about connection, reflection, and the beauty of “nothingness.”
