At the just commenced 15th Mumbai Film Festival, Mahesh Elkunchwar is all set to leave audiences speechless with the film Monologue directed by Vaibhav Abnave. Situated somewhere between a feature and a documentary, the 28-year-old playwright and filmmaker has gone on to explore one of the most influential Indian modern dramatists through Elkunchwar&rsquo;s works. <img alt="Maunraag" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/oct/Maunraag.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 304px;" /> A film still from Maunraag Recently Karnad, Elkunchwar&rsquo;s contemporary, remarked in a publication that Elkunchwar&rsquo;s writings are all about silence. Perhaps that&rsquo;s why Abnave devised a single-voiced approach where the playwright echoes his own characters and writings. <img alt="Mahesh Elkunchwar" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/oct/Mahesh-Elkunchwar.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 689px;" /> Mahesh Elkunchwar &ldquo;The idea was co-conceived while reading Sculpting in Time and watching Andrei Tarkovsky&rsquo;s films, while conversing with Aanand Chabukswar (a renowned drama therapist and theatre practitioner and also a co-script writer on this project) and Dharmakirti Sumant over the last few years. It gradually grew out of questions we were asking ourselves: What is the function of art? Why do we create? What is the relation between our creation and us? Is creation an end in itself?&rdquo; remarks Abanve. Inspired by Satah Se Uthata Aadmi by Mani Kaul and 32 short films about Glen Gould, the JNU doctoral researcher concocted the idea of a crossbreed. <img alt="Director Vaibhav Abnave" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/oct/Director-Vaibhav-Abnave.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 689px;" /> Director Vaibhav Abnave &ldquo;It is a crossbreed of literature-theatre and cinema,&rdquo; replies the doctoral candidate at Jawaharlal Nehru University. &ldquo;The toughest challenge is how to translate the spatio-temporality from one to the other. The script team attempted to translate the literary images into a scenario, which could be &lsquo;staged&rsquo;. Cinematographer Vikram Amladi then transformed the space / time of the theatrical into cinematic along with the sound designer Hitesh Chaurasia and music composer Benedict Taylor who opened up the invisible sound dimension to the piece,&rdquo; informs Abnave. Experimental and pushing the boundaries much like Elkunchwar himself, who turned 74 in early October this year, Abnave&rsquo;s film is a must-watch for art aficionados ofu00a0all sorts. <h2 class="footer_style"> On: October 19, 5.30 pm; October 20, 12.45 pm At: Metro Cinema, Marine Lines; Cinemax Versova. Log on to: mumbaifilmfestival.org</h2>

As a tribute to Mahesh Elkunchwar, one of the most respected playwrights of modern Indian theatre, Vaibhav Abnave explores many nuances through Maunraag, an experimental film to be screened today

A dialogue with Elkunchwar

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A dialogue with Elkunchwar

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