Humans of Someone
Producer | Aum-i Artistes
My Role | Screenwriting, Lyrics, Creative Direction, Marketing Communications
How do you make & market an independent feature film
in India outside of a full-time job?
Produced by Aum-i Artistes, a creative agency based in Kerala (India), ‘Humans of Someone’ got its worldwide premiere at the 23rd International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK, 2018) and has since then gone on to win several notable national and international awards.
As the Screenwriter, Lyricist, Lead Actor & Creative Director of Humans of Someone who was also in charge of its marketing and distribution, my goal was to make and market an independent film outside the constraints of a traditional studio system where the audience would never be allowed to enjoy this work the way it was originally conceived. ‘Humans of Someone’ was shot, edited & shaped by my crew and I across a span of 3 years, during weekends and outside of our full-time jobs. The film was also made possible thanks to a generous crowd-funding campaign powered by a community of cinephiles from all over the world.
Synopsis.
A man gets obsessed with a filmmaker whose films become inextricably entwined with his own life. What begins as a love story of a young couple takes a strange turn that renders their relationship increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing. ‘Humans of Someone’ unleashes a nightmare vision of a slow breakdown, transforming a creative obsession into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the relationship movie into chilling new terrain with its feverish portrait of a mind that won't stand still.
Made in memory of the late Malayalam filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist, P. Padmarajan (1946-1991).
India’s first-ever
spoken word musical.
Once we wrapped production, the main challenge was to introduce the film in ways that tread the fine line between shareable and engaging, while also being sincere and authentic. My initial expression of this idea was a prologue video titled ‘dear padmarajan’, which went one to become India’s first-ever spoken word musical set to an original prose poem that honours the iconic filmmaker P. Padmarajan, presenting images from his classic films captured in conjunction with the film we were making, thus underlining their deep connections.
Written & performed by me.
Demonstrating the authenticity
of a film based on films.
Then came time for the first look video. With ‘sarah & i’, we found a way to introduce ‘Humans of Someone’ with a seamless choreography of words, music & images, designed to demonstrate the authenticity of a film based on films. Conceived as the telephonic equivalent of a duet, ‘sarah & i’ plays like a lost tape of conversations between the film’s lead characters, hinting at the strange, surreal, dreamlike nature of the film.
Original Soundtrack Album.
The film is emotive, poetic and non-linear with an original soundtrack album, featuring leading musicians from all over India, including Shakthisree Gopalan (launched by Academy Award winner, A.R.Rahman), Govind Vasantha (founder of the multi-genre rock band, Thaikkudam Bridge), Neha & Yakzan (Kerala State-award winning composer duo), Achyuth Jaigopal (lead guitarist & co-founder of the indie outfit, When Chai Met Toast) and several others.
The album was released across all major music streaming platforms (Spotify, iTunes, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, etc.) and garnered rave reviews from both critics as well as enthusiasts.
I wrote the lyrics for all the tracks.
Artwork.
Central to the film’s posters are bold, sweeping strokes that evoke the fluidity of dream logic in paintings, suggesting elements of its people and landscapes, layered and textural. Inspired by the spontaneity and painterly style of abstract expressionism, these images are designed to be interpretive, evolving every time they are seen.
Magical slumberland
of images.
To inspire viewers to think deeply about the film’s core themes, we also built a magical internet slumberland on Facebook filled with videos, images and poems based on moments from the film: resulting in over 1M social impressions that created a ripple in India’s indie cinema zeitgeist, with shoutouts from the likes of Varun Grover (screenwriter of the Cannes award winning film, Masaan).
Over 1,500 delegates packed the worldwide premiere of the film at the 23rd International Film Festival of Kerala on 09 January 2018 for the first official screening, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.
Awards & Recognition
-
2018
Official Selection/World Premiere/Best of Contemporary Cinema -
2019
Best Drama Feature, Best Duo in a Feature Film -
2019
Best Feature Film (Fiction) -
2019
Best Indie Feature, Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Design & Lead Actress Honourable Mention -
2019
Best Feature Film -
2019
Winner, Outstanding Achievement Award (Narrative Feature) -
2019
Best Background Score in a Feature Film -
2019
Best Feature Film, Best Original Idea -
2019
Best Foreign Feature Film
