How did the idea of setting the movie in your ancestral home come about? Our ancestral house, like so many other houses in the village, was in talks to be renovated into a modern double-storey building. Before that happened, I wanted to make a film to preserve it. At the same time, I am also documenting the rich culture of our region, Mithila, which is also slowly eroding. How much of it is scripted? We had a structure and a few dialogues when we started out. It was mostly improvised on the set by the cast, dominated by non-actors. Even the scripted bits came from my memory, and some of the scenes are based on our old family photographs. We shot in different seasons over a span of eight months to incorporate the passage of time. What has been your discovery while making the movie? I recently discovered my grandfather’s old diaries and photographs lying in a corner of our village house. He was a playwright and an actor, and passed away long before I was born. Looking at the pictures and reading anecdotes from a bygone era made me aware of the better days that the house had seen. I wanted my film to be a remembrance of those times. What are the kind of stories you plan to tell as a filmmaker? I wish to make films about the ordinary, everyday life, relating to — but hopefully not restricted to — my personal experiences and memories. I have lived more than half my life away from my hometown, Darbhanga, but now I find myself drawn to it. I want to keep exploring stories there as well.
