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Jyothi Venkatesh
Samskara/Impressions - A short film by Sankalp Rawal exploring ancient Indian Yogic ideas of how one’s impressions (Samskara) are food for inner-self and how one’s inner structures and algorithms are formed by what they see, hear and experience all through their lives.The film depicts the parallel narratives of Abhimanyu’s childhood and his current life simultaneously via a split screen. It showcases what happens when he realizes that he has unconsciously become the man who had left the strongest samskara (impressions) on him: his alcoholic-abusive father. The theory of Samskara has also been used, in ancient Indian texts, to develop explanations for how and why human beings remember anything, and the impact these memories have on their sense of suffering, happiness and being content as impressions build the body of one’s soul and only consciousness can liberate them.
‘I was shocked to see my cousin slowly grow into a drunkard although he had seen his father destroy everyone’s life by drinking. He had seen his father wither away to bones and die a slow agonising death and yet here he was, getting drunk each evening. It reminded me of the Yogic concept of Samskara. A word which has now come down to mean manners. It’s not really the good manners that our parents try to instruct which affects us but rather our impressions of how they live. The film attempts to create a sense of introspection among the viewers about their own life choices and the impressions that have influenced these. The biggest challenge was to allow the acting to be real and organic while keeping with such a precise storyboard of actions and positions. So, we shot the film in a linear sequence allowing the actors to go through the journey of the night in the actual sequence.’ - Sankalp Rawal, Director of Samskara
Samskara is produced by Myths & Mountains Movies and distributed by Six Sigma Films. It is the official selection at Kansas film festival, USA; Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Streatham Film Festival, London; Calcutta Cult film festival, New Delhi Film festival amongst the others and is available on YouTube and Disney+ Hotstar.
Sankalp Rawal is a director, producer, and a screenwriter. He is currently writing a series for Amazon Prime and one for MX player. He has developed a feature film script for Pan Nalin (Director – Angry Indian Goddesses, Samsara and Valley of Flowers). Sankalp has worked as a creative director at 4 Lions Films and was part of the development team for Star(Ishqbaaz), Disney, Hotstar(Tanhaiyaan) and Balaji. He was the assistant creative director for Hotstar original series – Tanhaiyaan. He co-wrote a short film titled ‘And sometimes she loved me too...’ which was an official selection at Florence Indian Film Festival, Linz Festival(Australia), Berlin Film Festival amongst others. Sankalp’s production house ‘Myths & Mountains' is co-producing a masterclass on “Bhagavad Gita - Navigating the Battle of Life” with the renowned philosopher Dr.Ravi Ravindran. He has also been a production assistant for Prakash Jha films. He was the EP for the documentary “Reality of Being” directed by Rajula Shah
Actors - Namit Das - (Wake up Sid, Sui Dhaga, Patakha, Monsoon Wedding -Musical by Mira Nair, Aarya - Hotstar, A suitable Boy - Netflix), Naman Jain - (Chillar Party, won national award for best child actor - Bombay Talkies),Padma Damodaran - Theatre Actress (Play:, Rumi: Unveil the Sun) ,PriyaTandon - TV/Theatre Actress (Moh Maya Money, Chale Chalo, Sath Nibhana, Naamkaran) ,
DOP -Akshay Singh (Lipstick under my Burqua)
Sound -Rudra Anand - (Pahula-the little
visitors, Penalty)
Editor - Vaishak Ravi - (Tum bhi na)(The Office - India)
Action - Vikram Dahiya - (Mukkabaaz, Sacred Games)
Production Design - Somanwita Bhattacharya - (Fitoor, What Will People Say (Norway's Oscar entry), edited by Vaishak Ravi (The Office).
Link for the trailer -
Link for the film -
