Avichi Poster
Avichi Poster
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AVICHI - UNIQUE PSYCHOLOGICAL-DRAMA FILM
by Marisa Darnel

 We had the opportunity to watch Avichi, a Psychological-Drama, which has no spoken language yet captures a mood and feel unseen in a very long time.

 

The film has been selected in one of India's biggest film festivals: T​he Kolkata International Film Festival.

 The unique, compelling story is developed on the screen, and reaches the audience, by extraordinary performances of the actors, through colors, lights, sound and a music score that expresses everything with great intensity. This movie, without dialogues, tells more than a thousand words.

Varun Chowdhury, the writer, director and editor of this independent feature film, was born in La Fayette, Illinois (USA) 1984. He did his primary and higher education from India then went on to pursue filmmaking in Los Angeles, USA. After coming back to India he studied Cinematography, because, as he says: "I wanted to leave no stone unturned in the process of making a film and to explore the intricate details about lighting, lenses & framing."

He has always believed that the only thing between the director’s vision and the audience is the camera and each decision made at this stage, makes a huge difference in communicating to the audience.

His first short film ‘Entrapped’ bagged him the official selection in the reputed and prestigious competition called 'The Large Short Films' in 2012. In 2016, he was inspired to write Avichi.

Varun Chowdhury explains: “Avichi is an exploration of the human condition through the story of Knife and Scar, of how our fear of the unknown, the desire to change the inevitable and delusions disguised as hope, binds us in an unbreakable circle of misery, and how these imperfections make us who we are.”

Avichi, is a Sanskrit and also Pali word, which means “without soul.” Soulless beings wandering in a state of misery, turning animalistic, with each passing moment, in a never-ending realm of hell.

It has been a great challenge, for this independent team, to film on a tight budget, 93 minutes of action without dialogue, telling a story of two men while they scavenge and hunt in an unfriendly landscape, going deeper into the world of Avichi, which takes them to the horrors of their past and the fears of their future.

The selection of the landscape where they filmed, the costumes, and production design, makes the story timeless and it doesn't seem to belong to any place in particular.Although the movie starts as a visual poetry, the human beings soon transform the peaceful landscape to a terrific fight for survival.

The characters go deep into the memories of their past and the plot becomes a sort of Shakespearean psychological drama in the end.

The goal of telling a story without words, and creating the suspense, the thrill and the drama has been very well achieved. After a while, you feel familiar with the landscape and with the characters and you know and understand their reactions. 

Movie Trailer

Conversation with director Varun Chowdury next page

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Screengrab from the film
Screengrab from the film
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