10 underrated Indian films that design lovers must watch, according to filmmakers

FromRRRtoMughal-E-Azam, the history ofIndian cinemais rife with examples of why good design matters in making drama memorable. Behind every filmmaker, be it K. Asif in 1960 or S.S. Rajamouli in 2022, stands a team meticulously bringing their vision to life, such as the art director M.K. Syed, or the currently in-demand production designer Sabu Cyril.

“Robert McKee [architect of the Story Seminar] said that if the story is thestoryyou are telling, you are in deep sh*t,” says Ajitpal Singh, the award-winning director of the SonyLIV seriesTabbar, and the critically-praisedFire in the Mountains.“It’s via design that a director conveys the deeper truth that is hidden beneath the story.”

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This is evident in the Netflix seriesTrial by Fire. “The primary aim of design was to illustrate the [Krishnamoorthy’s] journeys from your everyday, normal parents, into the single-minded crusaders they became,” says creator Prashant Nair. Thetransformationof their apartment into a spartan, functional space as time progressed was key. “We used a combination of ageing fabrics and walls (even repainting), slowly changing the lighting, and swapping out usual family items for files and documents.”

For Adivi Sesh, who wrote and acted inMAJOR, the 2022 Telugu film based on the late Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, “It was very important to make the period detail of his childhood feel like the real India, full of contrasting hues and multi-colouredlights. His home should've felt lived in, his backpack used, the car glass of the old Ambassador should not be spotless.”

“The story is the hero,” believes Jasmeet K. Reen. For her filmDarlings, set designer Garima Mathur evoked the mad mash of aspiration and circumstance that is Byculla in homes where fabric prints clash against each other, mirrors are cracked, and “everything is perfect, yet broken”. “All elements of a film, like cinematography, production design, sound, background score, blend together to take the narrative forward,” says Reen. “Balanceis key.”

To further illustrate this, the filmmakers recommend 10 Indian films from the past two decades that are more than “stage plays with more atmosphere and action”, as Stanley Kubrick once put it.

1. Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)

By S.S. Rajamouli

“UntilBaahubali, all mainstream Indian cinema had as a reference to kings and queens were huge diamond studded gold crowns and exquisite silks,” says Sesh, who was also part of its gigantic cast. But Sabu Cyril’s production design manifested a razor-sharp arsenal,spectacularstatues and grand waterfalls, in addition to detailed costumes. “Baahubalimade a modern audience take note of a mythical king’s armour in battle.”

2. Miss Lovely (2014)

By Ashim Ahluwalia

“I foundMiss Lovelyreally inspiring in how vividly it brought to life a very specific world in a very specific time,” says Nair, of the film that explores Mumbai’s C-movieindustry. For its grainy texture, detailed work on period costumes, recreation of grubby studios, and choice of locations, the production design team—Parichit Paralkar, Tabasheer Zutshi and Ahluwalia—won a National film award. “It’s visually sumptuous with great choices,” says Nair, “while never compromising on giving us a sense of time, space and character.”

3. The Disciple (2020)

By Chaitanya Tamhane

Tamhane’s sophomore Marathi-language film “is one of the most intelligent ways in which a heartbreaking story of a ‘disciple’ or a blind follower is told,” says Amit Masurkar (Sherni, Newton). Production designers Ravin Karde and Pooja Talreja evoke that realm of struggle and strife in a blanched colour palette and a spartan middle-class home. “The film uses the world of classical music and its tropes of wise mentors, secret knowledge, cultish cliques, and tortured geniuses. Tamhane is strong on style, with his intense characters, long takes, anddarkacerbic humour.”

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4. Gully Boy (2019)

By Zoya Akhtar

“What people don’t often know is that a large part ofGully Boy说:“是一组排水沟。生产设计师Suzanne Caplan Merwanji, the challenge was to recreate the density of Dharavi, a place saturated with human life and all its accoutrements—especially since shooting on location would’ve been next to impossible. “But the Dharavi they created looksrealand worked well with the story and character worlds,” says Reen.

5. Asha Jaoar MajheorLabour Of Love (2014)

By Aditya Vikram Sengupta

For a wordless film, Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s debut feature speaks volumes about what well-constructed frames can communicate.Labour ofLoveis about a young couple trying to find time to spend with each other despite their work schedules. Jonaki Bhattacharya underlines the quotidian in her production and costume design, and Sengupta’s painterly eye finds rhythm in the mundane. “They make clear and striking visual choices,” says Nair of this lyrical ballad of yearning, “yet manage to stay in service of character.”

6. Awe! (2018)

By Prashanth Varma

For Sesh, Prashant Varma’s wildly experimental, multi-genre, Telugu-language “anthology”Awe!stands out for its “mood, bold colours and fantastical ideas.” Alongside Sahi Suresh’s art production and Karthik Ghattamaneni’s cinematography, Sesh admires “the way Varma uses the idea of the cut, timing of a snip and the razor sharp velocity changes in his debut film,” which editor Gautham Nerusu helped with.

7. Chauthi KootorThe Fourth Direction (2015)

By Gurvinder Singh

“I grew up in Punjab during the turmoil of the 1980s and visited frequently in the 1990s when it intensified,” says Singh. “There was fear in the air. I had forgotten how it felt until I sawChauthi Koot.” Set in a post-Operation Blue Star Punjab, Gurvinder Singh’s “modernist realist” film takes off from Sahitya Akademi award-winning Waryam Singh Sandhu’s short stories, and builds a spare, bleak world for the screen. “He uses cinematography, production design, costumes and sound design to create the feeling of ’90s Punjab. It sent shivers down my spine.”

8. Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon (2018)

By Anamika Haksar

Theatre doyen Anamika Haksar’s debut feature, set in Shahjahanabad of Old Delhi, is “a cinematic tour de force,” says Masurkar. Its mission—to depict the lives of the dispossessed—is anchored in vivid surrealism and magic realism. Corpses levitate in abandoned rooms; tourists slowly scale a skyline, much like monkeys. “Aesthetes will appreciate its unique structural design, which weaveshistory, architecture, poetry, music, animation, and theatre to tell a rich, complex and deeply engaging tapestry of stories.”

9. Nasir (2020)

By Arun Karthick

Nasir,by one of the boldest young voices in Tamil cinema, depicts a seemingly regular day in the life of a sari salesman in Coimbatore, where sectarianism is on the rise. Production designer Mausam Aggarwal details his cramped home in a ghetto, where he lives with his wife and nephew, and a sari shop where even the mannequins wear bindis. “Good design in film will not only give you asenseof place and era,” says Nair, “but also the relationship your characters have to it.”

10. Monsoon Wedding (2001)

By Mira Nair

“在1990年代,主流的宝莱坞电影是裁判lecting the changes that were unleashed with the opening up of the economy,” says Singh. Suddenly, expensive fashion brands, foreign locations, bright lighting and loud performances were de rigueur. Then came Mira Nair’s Golden Lion-awarded opus, a wedding movie that exemplified the authentic world that can be created when production design (Stephanie Carroll), costumes (Arjun Bhasin) and cinematography (Declan Quinn) come together to carry a good script. “Monsoon Weddingdidn’t need music to create a storm of emotions. It was so real and raw.”

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