CHRISTINE MACHADO | NT BUZZ
‘Zero Bulb’ began as a college project for Soham Prasad Bhende at the National Institute of Design, Madhya Pradesh. “It was inspired from years of quietly noticing the women around me; how much can be said without speaking,” he shares.
The film focuses on a Kojagiri night in a Goan village, an elderly widow and her daughter-in-law, long bound by silence, are drawn into a quiet exchange as festive sounds drift in.
The ‘zero bulb’, states Bhende, a faint little light in the corners of most Goan houses felt like the perfect metaphor. “It was just enough light to see a little more clearly like the two women in the film finally do,” he says.
The shooting was done during the local festivals. “Instead of constructing sets, we simply let real Goa exist in the frame. Homes, sounds, processions everything found its way naturally,” says Bhende, adding that the first cut of the film was wrapped up in early November last year, just in time for Bhende’s college jury. “Later, after sitting with feedback and living with the footage a bit, I reshaped and re-edited it into the film it is now,” he says, adding that apart from the challenges of time and money, the bigger challenge was sensitivity. “I’m a young man telling a story through the lens of two women. There’s a lot I still have to learn about nuance,” he says.
Besides this being Bhende’s first film, it was also the first time on screen for actors Tarka Bhende (who is his mother and a dentist by profession) and Anju Kamat (a retired school teacher). “While I was growing up, my mother was always performing, dancing, mimicking, and bringing characters to life with so much spontaneity. When this project began to take shape, with limited resources and a small team, I slowly started seeing her as my lead actor; someone who could carry a role if given the right direction,” says Bhende.
With guidance from Maheen Mirza and Milann Tress John (both visiting faculty at NID and practicing filmmakers), Bhende worked on their performances through rehearsals.
“The acting in this film depends a lot on ‘thairav’-stillness allowing breath and silence to build the emotion and relationships on screen. This was a bit challenging to build with non experienced actors,” he says.
Given that it is his first film, Bhende does not have grand dreams for it. “It’s a small film made with a lot of honesty. If even one person feels seen without having to explain themselves, I’ll consider that a success,” he says.
