DURBAN - Durban raised director-cinematographer Abijeet Achar's short film 'Mysore Magic', is heading to the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, which is taking place from Tuesday until June 26.
Mysore Magic presents the story of Premi and Vasu, set in Mysore in 1982.
Achar said he wanted to make a film focusing on immigrant joy.
‘’My father is from India, and my mother is from Mauritius. Mysore Magic is the true story of their unlikely romance at a disco competition in 1982 at the University of Mysore in India.
After their graduation and marriage, they immigrated to South Africa for better opportunities and to break free from societal caste pressures,’’ he said.
He said the immigrant's identity was often overlooked.
‘’We are a number, an application, or a news headline. This film challenges that notion. I want our audience to feel the humanity and hope of the people behind the moniker 'immigrant'.’’
Achar was born in the Transkei but moved to Durban when he was 2-years-old. He attended Saturn Pre-Primary and Atholl Heights Primary Schools in Westville.
His father was the head of the mechanical engineering department at ML Sultan Technikon, and his mother was the head of the microbiology department at the University of Durban-Westville. In 2002, his family emigrated to Toronto, Canada, and later to Atlanta.
In 2012, Achar earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies from the University of Georgia before completing his Master's in Fine in media art at Emerson College in 2016. he is based in Atlanta.
Achar, 32, previously directed another short film, 'My Indian Rhapsody', which had its world premiere at the 2017 Atlanta Film Festival and was a semi-finalist in the student academy awards.
Since writing and directing this breakout film, he has produced and been the cinematographer for acclaimed independent films like Pageant Material, Water Horse, Thorns, Forgive Us and Mabrook.
Mysore Magic stars Aishwarya Sonar, Siddharth Kusuma, Saman Hasan and Rishik Patel in leading roles.
Sonar said: ‘’I knew of Abijeet and Alex's amazing work at Pineapple cut Pictures for a while, so I was beyond excited to work with them, especially on a true story. It was an honour, pleasure and a huge responsibility to portray Abijeet's mom, Premi, who is independent, a complete badass and an unapologetically direct woman. I had such a special time working on this with Abijeet and the team. And we got to go to a disco.’’
HERALD