Fairy Folk director Karan Gour on verbose scripts

Award-winning director Karan Gour is no stranger to critical acclaim. He wrote, directed, edited and scored his debut feature film 'Kshay’ (Corrode) which went on to premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival and won a slew of international awards like the Best Feature Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival. As a gifted music composer and sound designer, he has also worked on films like 'NH10', 'Phobia', 'Titli' and 'Haraamkhor.' His latest offering 'Fairy Folk' has also been screened at the Sydney Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, MAMI (Mumbai), and the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. As the film gears up for a theatrical release in cinemas across Mumbai, Delhi, Goa, Kolkata, and Bengaluru on March 1, Karan discusses why this film is a leap in a new creative and thematic space.

Laced with magic realism, the film is an intriguing and intimate narrative about human relationships and Karan says, "The idea of the film came to me while trying to put together this hybrid documentary with Alekh, one of our producers. I was already a fan of improvisation and love the freedom that it brings to the performances when it’s done right. This idea of actors flowing in the space between action and cut and responding to only motivations rather than actual written lines, intrigued me. I was familiar with filmmakers like John Cassavetes, Mike Leigh, Jean-Luc Godard, and even recent American figures like Joe Swanberg, and Larry David who took improv into production and onto the set, instead of using it just as a rehearsal tool. I was also exhausted with scripts loaded with written dialogues and wanted to try something different. "

So, Karan wrote a 30-page script that outlined what was unfolding scene-by-scene and also wrote a 60-page document that highlighted the motivation of individual characters before they entered the scene. "This second document made sure scenes weren’t wandering off into some random sunset. As for the themes and actual story of 'Fairy Folk' - it comes from my childhood in Kodaikanal, along with the last decade I’ve spent living in Goa; in both these places, nature can’t help but intrude into your daily life, and you can’t help but accept it," says Karan.

About choosing a real-life couple Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda to play Ritika and Mohit, he says, "I did write 'Fairy Folk' keeping them in mind because with this sort of improvisation, the less you worry about manufactured character specifics, the better it is. Since they were already comfortable with each other, especially with communication, they could take us deeper into the inner workings of a relationship much faster, where almost everything is in the grey area. When you have two actors that aren’t an actual couple, you have to rehearse to get them comfortable with each other to get them talking like a real couple before the first day of shoot. With Rasika and Mukul, we were diving in the depths on day one. "

Karan says conflicts in relationships are never black and white and are always intertwined with all sorts of smaller, associative issues and adds, "Mukul and Rasika went on to paint their scenes using tangents, skirting by the actual conflict to create these vivid shades to outline the core issue. This is what made the film fascinating to watch, and illuminating to edit."

He is optimistic that the film's theme will resonate with audiences in India and says, "I am hoping 'Fairy Folk' gets watched by as many people as we can pack in the theatres. It’s difficult to get an independent film out there and OTTs aren’t driven to licensing films like ours anymore. They say it doesn’t make economic sense, but it’s more than that. Word of mouth is what we have to rely on to expand the reach of this story."