Nikita Buragohain: Belonging to the beautiful town of Gangtok, the capital of the Northeast Indian state of Sikkim, the 23-year-old aspiring film maker and actor Deepankar Ratna Shakya, did gain immense love, appreciation and recognition for his short film titled ‘Altered’ after its release in 2020.
Through his film he tried to highlight a very crucial and a current issue of ‘Substance Abuse’ and how it has been severely impacting the people, particularly the youth of Gangtok in Sikkim.
To talk about ‘Altered‘, it is an Award-Winning Short Film from Sikkim directed by Deepankar. It successfully bagged the First Runners-Up in Kolkata Micro Film Festival 2020, Next-Gen International Short Film Festival 2020, Rising International Short Film Festival in the Best Short Film Category. It also bagged the Best Cinematography in the Durgapur Film Festival 2020 and made an Official Selection in the Global Liftoff First-time Filmmakers Sessions and Global Cinema Festival 2020 organized by the Film Federation of India and the State Government of Sikkim.
In a conversation with the aspiring filmmaker, the team of Hello Guwahati came to know about his views, ideas and motive behind the short film and also a glimpse into his inspirational journey with his film ‘Altered.
First of all, heartiest congratulations to Deepankar, keep making Northeast proud with your endeavors and thank you for your time!
What made you develop interest in filmmaking?
I started my career as a child artist, but I began to take filmmaking very seriously when I was around 15-years-old, as that is when I started working behind the camera. As time passed, I shifted to Mumbai and there I started working professionally in the mainline film industry. Eventually, I realized that in the mainline industry there were certain norms that we needed to follow, depending on under whom you were working. Such boundaries and restrictions did not provide me space to practice my creative freedom. Thus, when I returned to my hometown, I decided to work on my own project and released ‘Altered’, that did wonders!
Could you please tell us the idea behind naming your short film “Altered“?
When I was studying in Pune, I saw substances spoil life of some people close to me. So, the subject of substance abuse was already close to my heart and the short film “Altered” is more of a “perspective” kind of a thing. After witnessing the different instances related to the subject, I felt like nothing can be objectified in the field of substances and its all about perspective, because when you are into it you have a different mindset and when you are away from it you have a different mindset. But most importantly, the various situations in life kind of alters the view of our perspective. Thus, it is the true meaning that lies underneath the title ‘Altered.’
Could you tell us what made you select the concept of “Substance Abuse”?
Regarding the concept of substance abuse, what I wanted to portray was an experience that I had in first person by witnessing some close friends of mine go through it. So, in 2018 when I returned to Sikkim from Pune, during my holidays, that was when I decided to make a short film.
Back then the scenario of Sikkim, when it came to consumption substances, was also changing. However, when we talk about the exposure of substances, in Sikkim, it is more like the misuse of medicines i.e. medicinal drugs.
Initially, when I started working on the film, I wanted to show quite the negative aspect or view of the chosen ‘substance abuse’ concept. Back then, I did not even know what the name of my film would be. However, for research purposes when I met a lot of people including recovering addicts from rehabilitation centers, the counselors and also a lot of other people associated with the subject, I found that the people recovering from their addictions were very positive towards the idea of change. They strongly wanted to bring a change. These conversations with them, made me realize that although such recovering addicts were eager and determined to bring a change in their lives, but we as a society were not helping them. Also, it was commonly witnessed in Sikkim that if someone came from a rehab center, then he/she would be looked down upon and the rest of the younger crowds would be advised to stay away from such people. But after getting to know some of the recovering addicts in person, I along with my whole team learnt that we can not judge people as per their choices, because we could never understand what they might have been through in their lives.
In the world that we live in today, it is fairly common that every individual will surely encounter such substances at one point or the other in life and if we judge certain individuals or push them away, and by doing so we are not helping them in any way. Only if we accept them and try to be with them, only then the people who are willing to change can eventually change. So, this is the entire concept of Altered.
According to you, how are the people of Sikkim currently coping up with the issue of ‘Substance Abuse’?
We made ‘Altered’ in 2018 and released two years later in 2020. Considering the scenario in Sikkim, from the time when we began working on the film up to now, the rate of substance abuse has risen to quite an extent. It is like almost everyday we come across news of people getting busted with large amounts of substances that they bring about to peddle, and such activities have grown to become quite the prominent case now. Almost every family in Sikkim has either experienced in person or knows someone who is engaged in consumption of such substances.
What kind of obstacles did you face while shooting the film?
While the film was being produced we did face a lot of negative reaction, particularly in the areas where the scenes were being shot. This was because we deliberately chose the kind of areas which were accurately involved in and which held quite a reputation for being involved in such activities. Many people did share their concerns that we were trying to defame that particular area, which was being showcased in the film, but our intention was never to defame any of the areas. Instead we were trying to share a perspective that held more empathy towards the people from the community. However after the film was released, we did not receive any negative remarks or comments.
How long did it take to complete the entire film?
It took us two months for completing our research on the topic. During the period, we went about meeting people, we interacted with the police departments in town, with the rehabilitation centers, with the counsellors who shared their counseling sessions with recovering addicts, alcoholic associations etc. and the entire film was shot in five days, in the month of October, 2018 and was finally released in 2020.
How would you remark this journey of yours with Altered?
Altered was one of the first short films that I tried. For me, it was like a trial to discover myself as a writer and a director. Although initially, me and my team were quite unclear about how it would come out, but we had a clear idea of the message that we wanted to send through our film. Eventually, with the support of my family, friends and the entire cast and crew of Altered, it turned out to be a success.
According to you, has “Altered” succeeded to impact the audience in Gangtok over the issue of ‘Substance Abuse’?
Honestly, I do not know what change Altered brought statistically, but when I talk about the mindsets of me and the people close to me, it did bring about a great change in the way we think now and treat people around us. What I feel is like when it is about positivity, I believe positivity does not share itself like Bluetooth , I rather believe that it spreads like wildfire. So when you burn yourself with positivity, the trees around you and the people around you will stay burning with positivity as well.