‘Exciting and daunting’: ‘The Broken Table’ director Chintan Sarda on his film inching closer to the Oscars

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sarda described the current situation as “exciting and daunting”. He said, “We were ecstatic to win at BISFF. To become Oscar qualifying is a huge honour. It is also extremely intimidating to find out about the global competition. There is a Wes Anderson short film and some huge Hollywood-star backed films in the running too.”

Sarda says at this stage, films backed by studios usually spend large sums on publicity. But with their limited budget, the team is currently focusing on social media in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco to target Oscar jurors. Sarda added, “Making it to the shortlist would be huge; if it happens, the film can get some real visibility among the voters.”

The film is one that emphasises character perspectives. Sarda recalled a moment where he had been tempted to keep a close up shot of Naseeruddin Shah’s character Giri weeping, but chose to focus on Rasika’s character Deepti instead, in order to focus on her perspective of his pain.

He said, “I had to make the tough choice to stick to the character arc and perspective even if it meant losing out on some special moments in the film.”

Speaking about the actors, Sarda said, “It was a dream come true to direct a legend like Naseer sahab and an accomplished actor like Rasika. It took me a few days to actually grasp and believe that I am actually going to direct Naseer sahab. His work has inspired me and I would say he is one of the reasons I wanted to make films in the first place.”

Meanwhile, Sarda also has three upcoming web shows in progress, with a feature script also in the initial phases.