Karan Tejpal’s Stolen, a story about missing girls, is the only Indian film headed to Venice | Hindi Movie News
The gradual development of the characters, the complexity of every scene reminiscent of real life, people as great and as humble as they exist in the real world. It’s low-key and gloomy, but then the sun decides to rise in all its glory.
In April this year, the film became the only Indian film selected at the Beijing International Film Festival and swept more awards than any other film that participated, including Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography.
Last year, debutant director Karan Tejpal’s Stolen became the only Indian film to be selected (world premiere) at the Venice Film Festival in three years.
It is still performed at three monthly festivals (Shanghai, Transylvania and Japan) but is yet to see the light of day in India.
“Though it has done fantastic sales overseas, I must admit that it is still struggling to gain a foothold in India. Of course, I am sure someone will pick it up in India too, but that is not happening yet,” Tejpal told IANS.
In “Stolen,” two sophisticated brothers from well-off families witness a baby being kidnapped from its impoverished mother at a train station in rural India. Driven by moral duty, the younger brother (Shubham) convinces the other brother (Abhishek Banerjee) to help their mother (Mia Mahlzer) on a risky mission to find the baby.
The film is based on a real incident in which two young men fishing in Assam were lynched by villagers who believed them to be child abductors. Director Tejpal revealed that he started writing the script in 2019, and later Agadumbu and Gaurav Singla joined him in writing the script. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and they struggled for four years. The film was finally shot in January and February 2023, and had its world premiere in Venice on August 31.
Like many other Indian films that have performed extremely well at overseas film festivals, including Cannes recently, a theatrical release in India still remains a distant dream, and directors feel the biggest challenge will be convincing audiences to come and watch these films.
“You know, ultimately the government has to step in and subsidise and create an encouraging environment for these films to get a theatrical release. Remember, we are competing at the same level as blockbuster films. Most people don’t come to see our films because they know they will soon be released on OTT platforms,” laments the director, who is currently writing the script for a Mira Nair-directed film.
But he feels that a cut in entertainment taxes and specialised theatres like those in Europe and America could save these films: “That’s how we’ve kept that side of the film industry alive – recognising its importance.”
Tejpal said successive governments had failed to understand how cinema could be a great soft power.
“Here, it’s just a side business. Look at South Korea. They started investing in film, dance and music about 40 years ago and now they’re like the gatekeepers of culture in the world. They set up schools, theaters and universities for the arts. Maybe a few decades ago, when the NFDC was active, we had a healthier ecosystem.”
Speaking about “Stolen”, Tejpal said research has revealed that child abduction is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country, with as many as 50,000 to 60,000 children going missing every year, translating to 150 children per day.
“The people who are hit the hardest are the lower economic strata of society, the very poor, those who have no access to education and who don’t know how to approach the police or other social institutions. They are farm workers, day laborers, and these criminal gangs have found it easy to kidnap these children and get away with it. They are like a commodity to them, because they use them for slavery, prostitution, illegal adoption and illegal organ trafficking.”
An avid reader, Tejpal studied various research journals on child abduction, vigilantism and surrogacy.
“After Gaurav came on board, we did extensive research on the ground and met police officers and journalists who have been following the case for decades. We both visited villages where such incidents had taken place. We also met a few culprits, who, of course, have not admitted to the crimes,” says the director, who has worked as assistant director with Rajkumar Hirani, Prakash Mehra and Vinod Chopra.
But he added that he was unable to meet the victim: “In my film I take the gentler route of the child being found in the end, but in most cases that doesn’t happen.”
Through the actor Mia, they had access to a surrogacy hostel with 40 women living together as surrogates, some of whom had been surrogates two or three times in their lives.
“I’m talking about pre-2021, before the government passed the prohibition law,” says the filmmaker, who relocated to Goa during the pandemic.
Tejpal stresses that he has always been deeply involved in scriptwriting, which is the only way he could get involved in a project, and says that although he moved to New York for a year to do a course at the New York Film Academy in the US, most of his learning was on the job.
“More than learning your craft as a director, I believe you can only hone your craft, you can never really ‘learn’ it. My time there opened my eyes to world cinema, which I didn’t know much about, so I started studying by watching films and reading,” he recalls.
The director, who admires the work of Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi and Japanese director Koreeda Hirokazu, feels there is no set curriculum for teaching film because everyone has their own style, opinion and vision.
He is gearing up for his next directorial venture, Nisar, which he describes as a reversal of Romeo and Juliet, about honour killing set in a small village in Haryana.
“I’ve had this project in my head for over 10 years. It’s shocking that we live in a society where young people don’t have the freedom to love, and can even end up being killed for loving.
In his next film, lovers separated by fate make sacrifices and make life-changing choices.
“Faced with the choice of dying or killing in order to survive, in an unusual situation, the couple end up murdering the boys’ brother and running away. It all happens in a ‘dark space’, which to me is a very mysterious space.
A big believer in the power of genre filmmaking, Tejpal says he can use genre, excitement and “entertainment” to hide whatever he wants to tell. “The moment I step out of my house, so many stories come at me and I have to tell them in my own way,” he says. Whenever he needs a break from directing, the director writes scripts for others.
He concludes that he believes every film should be a “cinema of conscience”, telling stories that affect him deeply.
In April this year, the film became the only Indian film selected at the Beijing International Film Festival and swept more awards than any other film that participated, including Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography.
Last year, debutant director Karan Tejpal’s Stolen became the only Indian film to be selected (world premiere) at the Venice Film Festival in three years.
It is still performed at three monthly festivals (Shanghai, Transylvania and Japan) but is yet to see the light of day in India.
“Though it has done fantastic sales overseas, I must admit that it is still struggling to gain a foothold in India. Of course, I am sure someone will pick it up in India too, but that is not happening yet,” Tejpal told IANS.
In “Stolen,” two sophisticated brothers from well-off families witness a baby being kidnapped from its impoverished mother at a train station in rural India. Driven by moral duty, the younger brother (Shubham) convinces the other brother (Abhishek Banerjee) to help their mother (Mia Mahlzer) on a risky mission to find the baby.
The film is based on a real incident in which two young men fishing in Assam were lynched by villagers who believed them to be child abductors. Director Tejpal revealed that he started writing the script in 2019, and later Agadumbu and Gaurav Singla joined him in writing the script. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and they struggled for four years. The film was finally shot in January and February 2023, and had its world premiere in Venice on August 31.
Like many other Indian films that have performed extremely well at overseas film festivals, including Cannes recently, a theatrical release in India still remains a distant dream, and directors feel the biggest challenge will be convincing audiences to come and watch these films.
“You know, ultimately the government has to step in and subsidise and create an encouraging environment for these films to get a theatrical release. Remember, we are competing at the same level as blockbuster films. Most people don’t come to see our films because they know they will soon be released on OTT platforms,” laments the director, who is currently writing the script for a Mira Nair-directed film.
But he feels that a cut in entertainment taxes and specialised theatres like those in Europe and America could save these films: “That’s how we’ve kept that side of the film industry alive – recognising its importance.”
Tejpal said successive governments had failed to understand how cinema could be a great soft power.
“Here, it’s just a side business. Look at South Korea. They started investing in film, dance and music about 40 years ago and now they’re like the gatekeepers of culture in the world. They set up schools, theaters and universities for the arts. Maybe a few decades ago, when the NFDC was active, we had a healthier ecosystem.”
Speaking about “Stolen”, Tejpal said research has revealed that child abduction is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country, with as many as 50,000 to 60,000 children going missing every year, translating to 150 children per day.
“The people who are hit the hardest are the lower economic strata of society, the very poor, those who have no access to education and who don’t know how to approach the police or other social institutions. They are farm workers, day laborers, and these criminal gangs have found it easy to kidnap these children and get away with it. They are like a commodity to them, because they use them for slavery, prostitution, illegal adoption and illegal organ trafficking.”
An avid reader, Tejpal studied various research journals on child abduction, vigilantism and surrogacy.
“After Gaurav came on board, we did extensive research on the ground and met police officers and journalists who have been following the case for decades. We both visited villages where such incidents had taken place. We also met a few culprits, who, of course, have not admitted to the crimes,” says the director, who has worked as assistant director with Rajkumar Hirani, Prakash Mehra and Vinod Chopra.
But he added that he was unable to meet the victim: “In my film I take the gentler route of the child being found in the end, but in most cases that doesn’t happen.”
Through the actor Mia, they had access to a surrogacy hostel with 40 women living together as surrogates, some of whom had been surrogates two or three times in their lives.
“I’m talking about pre-2021, before the government passed the prohibition law,” says the filmmaker, who relocated to Goa during the pandemic.
Tejpal stresses that he has always been deeply involved in scriptwriting, which is the only way he could get involved in a project, and says that although he moved to New York for a year to do a course at the New York Film Academy in the US, most of his learning was on the job.
“More than learning your craft as a director, I believe you can only hone your craft, you can never really ‘learn’ it. My time there opened my eyes to world cinema, which I didn’t know much about, so I started studying by watching films and reading,” he recalls.
The director, who admires the work of Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi and Japanese director Koreeda Hirokazu, feels there is no set curriculum for teaching film because everyone has their own style, opinion and vision.
He is gearing up for his next directorial venture, Nisar, which he describes as a reversal of Romeo and Juliet, about honour killing set in a small village in Haryana.
“I’ve had this project in my head for over 10 years. It’s shocking that we live in a society where young people don’t have the freedom to love, and can even end up being killed for loving.
In his next film, lovers separated by fate make sacrifices and make life-changing choices.
“Faced with the choice of dying or killing in order to survive, in an unusual situation, the couple end up murdering the boys’ brother and running away. It all happens in a ‘dark space’, which to me is a very mysterious space.
A big believer in the power of genre filmmaking, Tejpal says he can use genre, excitement and “entertainment” to hide whatever he wants to tell. “The moment I step out of my house, so many stories come at me and I have to tell them in my own way,” he says. Whenever he needs a break from directing, the director writes scripts for others.
He concludes that he believes every film should be a “cinema of conscience”, telling stories that affect him deeply.
