‘Young people should get to talk about young people’

Kareema Barry (left) has written the film while Ida Ali (right) has directed it. Pic/Satej Shinde

The sun's pulled a disappearing act on the Tuesday we step out to meet Ida Ali and Kareema Barry. In the lanes of Four Bungalows stands a not-so-quaint bungalow with an old-time, rustic charm which doubles as filmmaker Imtiaz Ali's office.

We find ourselves in a tiny room upstairs, warmly greeted by Ali's daughter Ida and content creator-actor Kareema Barry. Both of them are beaming with excitement, with a touch of nervousness. They've just released a short film Sink In under their own production house, Blue Curtains Films.

"We're both literature students," says Barry, "It's like in English class when your teacher asks, ‘Why are the curtains blue? Does it depict melancholy? What was the author thinking?'" Ali finishes her sentence, "And we over-analyse films a lot. When people do it for foreign films, it is considered serious analysis. Everything is understood to be intentional. But with Indian films, we assume it must have been a fluke. We disagree with that. We want to over-analyse Indian cinema as well."

And so, they've released the coming-of-age short Sink In, which follows Kiara, who's dating a man who is sinking deep into a couch, dragging Kiara along. Ali directed and co-wrote while Barry co-wrote, acted in, and produced the film. The story came about in a midnight conversation between friends. "It's embarrassing, let Ida tell that story," Barry goes shy. Ali continues, "We were talking about her [Barry] and her life, and we started thinking of a character that is too good for the people she dates," Barry quips , "That's not embarrassing at all, now that you put it like that."

"I'm saying it in a good way," Ali says.

"Guess which one of us is PR trained," Barry jokes.

"I think young girls can really relate to a story like this. It's so easy to fall into that charm of a douchebag. And they just happen to be guitarists, stoners, the tote-bag-carrying Raghavs of the world," Barry says, "We can't just believe in the potential of someone."

‘Sink In' follows Kiara, who's dating a man who is sinking deep into a couch, dragging Kiara along. Pic Courtesy/Kareema Barry

What are some blue curtains they've left in their film, we ask. "I think the guy wearing a hoodie that says ‘Abroad College' is a good inside joke. Because every guy like this has studied abroad," Barry says.

Both of them hold films very close to their hearts. "It's very hard to grow up in India and not dream of being an actor. Everyone has looked in the mirror and pretended to be on Koffee with Karan," Barry says.

Ali adds, "I've grown up in a film family. And to me it was always a part of who I am. I watch films. We're having dinner-table conversations about films. And eventually, at 15, I realised I wanted to be a filmmaker," she says, "I think a good film is an entertaining film. But beyond that, it has the power to change the world."

Both have been working on quite a few projects for the last year, and all of them are set to come out. "We thought we'll utilise the time we have between projects and actually build something," Barry says, "This is entirely produced by us. We've financed the film. I also dabbled into writing. There is so much we learnt on this project. For us, this is almost like a resume to show the big corporate offices."

"And because we financed the film, we knew we had to be thrifty. We learnt how to make a jugaad. You wouldn't think that hard drives are so expensive, or just how many of them you need," Ali jokes.

As young filmmakers, Ali and Barry are really enjoying the film scene right now. "I just finished watching Sterling Point and I really enjoyed it. This year we've had a lot of big spectacles like The Odyssey. And of course, we'll have the Ramayana in India," Ali says, "But what I've really enjoyed is the comeback of the mid-budget film. I'm really inspired by films like The Drama and The Invite, which are making films on a smaller budget and in a contained space, but still portraying real emotions and real characters, where the writing really takes the front foot."

Barry adds, "I like the scene better than what it was a few years ago, at least. I like a slice-of-life moment. I think those films have really gotten their dues right now. I think these films were just considered artsy indie films. Nowadays, it's becoming mainstream. I don't think The Invite or The Drama would have been as popular a few years ago. Because Malcolm & Marie (2021) didn't really work a few years ago, and it was on similar lines."

She notes, "Young people should get to talk about young people more than anyone else. We don't get to watch enough stuff that just shows what it's like to be a 20-something, which is why we seek foreign media. Because, they have younger writers."

Sink In is just the beginning. The duo already has two other short films in the pipeline and they're just wrapping a micro-series brand campaign for Nua. "Eventually, the goal is to be a production house of two girls that could actually get younger, new people to come and write, create, do camera work, whatever they want to do," Ali says, "There's so much talent that doesn't get recognition or any project to do. It's not even that they're not willing or they're not good at what they're doing. There's no community to get them together."

Barry adds, "I would really love any amount of contribution I can make to anybody creating something, I think that would be a great target for us to have. It will eventually happen, and we're in no rush. It would be awesome if in time of need, people can say, ‘We can reach out to them and ask them if there's something that can be done.'"