Indian director and cinematographer Jatra Siddhartha assembled some of the biggest names in world cinema for In the Belly of a Tiger. The film will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival next week.
Blending surreal horror and selfless love, the film is a fictionalized version of true events that reportedly took place in rural India, in which a couple goes on a journey to ensure their family's financial security. The idea is to make arrangements for the food to be eaten.
Co-written by Siddhartha and Amanda Mooney, the story revolves around Bagore and Prabhata, landless farmers who return to their village after failing to find work in the city. The village they returned to was in chaos after a farmer was attacked and killed by a tiger. And the dispossessed family is supported only by the wages of their son, who works as a slave in a brick factory. When that remaining hope is threatened, the elderly parents decide to take drastic measures to recover compensation.
Mooney also worked closely with Siddhartha on his first film, Love and Shukla, which premiered at the 2017 Busan IFF Festival and went on to film at Shanghai IFF, Tallinn Black Nights, and Palm Springs. , and was subsequently picked up and played at over 40 other festivals. By Netflix.
The multinational production crew includes Japan's Shigeru Umebayashi (The Grandmaster, In the Mood for Love) composing the music and multiple Oscar winner Resul Pookutty (The Grandmaster, In the Mood for Love). Slumdog Millionaire) was in charge of sound design, and color grading was done in mainland China. The studio is owned and operated by leading fantasy and action director Warshan (“Creation of the Gods I – Storm Kingdom”).
The film's production process was equally international. The film began his work in 2018 and received development support from the Busan Asian Film Fund. After that, he participated for several years in project labs and co-production markets such as “Less is More”, “Black Night's Script Pool Tallinn”, “NFDC Film Bazaar – Script Lab”, Hong Kong HAF, Tokyo Gap Financing Market, etc. Works include Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, NFDC Film Bazaar, Shanghai International Film Festival Project Market.
Acquiring funding and partners along the way, the film was completed as a production by Bhairavi Films in the US, Wonder Pictures in China, and Jeevi Films in India. Additionally, Indonesia's Qun Films, Taiwan's Flash Forward Entertainment and Mainland China's Myth Image will serve as co-producers. Flash Forward also sells overseas.
“Speaking to the soul of India, my films use Indian mythology as a sign of hope and tell a deeply personal love story that aims to place these invisible lives at the center of human consciousness. ” said Siddhartha.
Siddhartha, who shot in Hindi and primarily used non-professional actors, had previously lived on location in the village to complete his research. There he met several families who had been forced to give up their land due to mounting debts. Having lost everything, they turned to other ways to help their families survive.
Watch the trailer for “In the Belly of a Tiger” here.
