Shibi M. Keshavan's film deals with the search for God.
The film GOD begins in a kitchen where we see an ant searching for food. It tries its luck at every nook and corner of the kitchen until it finds a bowl of rice on the table. The ant rushes to the bowl, but there is an obstacle. As it stands there thinking about possible solutions to overcome the obstacle, it is lured by the hands that sprinkle sugar on the other side. Obviously, the ant goes and others follow it. Soon, four scriptures assuming the shape of walls pop up, trapping the ants. There is no way out. As the movie unfolds, we see a ray of hope filtering through the walls, freeing the ants and guiding them to the right food, their ‘God’.
What director Shibi M. Keshavan tries to communicate to audience through his film is that science is the ultimate solution, not religion. “I am a believer but not a fanatic,” he says. “In this film, rice is ant’s god. It is running towards it. But it is not able to reach its god (food) due to an obstacle and is misused by other forces (religions) that provide something sweeter than rice. Here, the scriptures represent various religions existing in our society. Though it may look calm on the outside, there is commotion inside. Then, science comes as a saviour. The book of science falls on the table. A crack occurs on the walls of religion and the ants escape through it. They reach the rice with the help of the science book that serves as a bridge to cross over the obstacle. Here ants represent us. We should not confine ourselves to the boundaries of religion. We have to be wise. For instance, there are people who opt for religious remedies when they fall sick, which is wrong. Science is the way there. The one who helps us in our dilemma is the real god,” he adds.
As mentioned above, ants are the actors in this film that has no dialogues. Quiz him about choosing ants over humans, he replies, “I chose ants as there are certain limitations to shoot this concept with humans. The only human presence is those hands that put sugar on the table.”
Unni Salim, who captured the emotions of ants, says it has been an interesting task. “We had to take many takes for the apt shot. A major chunk of shooting was done using 5D Mark IV Canon Camera with 100mm macro lens,” says Unni, who used a 60mm lens along with the existing one for extreme close ups. “We have used only natural shots. I observed ants, took different angles and did a demo before the original shoot. Things were easy as the director had a good vision,” he adds. The film was released earlier this month on YouTube.
