( MENAFN - IANS) New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) He says when one moves physically to another place, it is not just the body that displaces. And when one comes back, he may suddenly become an 'outsider'. Questions of identity and the 'insider-outsider' dilemma have always fascinated Ladakhi filmmaker Maisam Ali, whose debut feature film 'In Retreat' is the first ever Indian film to be screened in Cannes' ACID sidebar where 14 filmmakers viewed several hundred movies and decided on nine from different countries for the category.
Shot during winters in Ladakh, and mostly at night, the film revolves around the protagonist (played by Harish Khanna), now in his 50s, who returns home to Ladakh. Having missed his brother's funeral, he lingers at the threshold of his old home, maybe to delay one more night of his arrival. The idea of the film emerged from an incident he "witnessed or heard" when he was around 12 years old.
Someone had come back to his hometown (Ladakh) after a long time and was trying to make small talk with people around. "Everyone said he was so polite..
. it left me very sad for him. This has always stayed with me.
You know I do not even remember if I had seen the man or just heard about him. But this very glimpse, a snippet of a memory played on me. All I knew was that I had to make the film on what transpired/ did not with him," this 35-year-old tells IANS.
Trapezing on the edge of grimness, this very personal film with almost a poetic treatment dwelling on 'belonging' .
