‘Young people should get to talk about young people’

The sunrsquos 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 notsoquaint bungalow with an oldtime rustic charm which doubles as filmmaker Imtiaz Alirsquos officeWe find ourselves in a tiny room upstairs warmly greeted by Alirsquos daughter Ida and content creatoractor Kareema Barry Both of them are beaming with excitement with a touch of nervousness Theyrsquove just released a short film Sink In under their own production house Blue Curtains FilmsldquoWersquore both literature studentsrdquo says Barry ldquoItrsquos like in English class when your teacher asks lsquoWhy are the curtains blue Does it depict melancholy What was the author thinkingrsquordquo Ali finishes her sentence ldquoAnd we overanalyse 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 overanalyse Indian cinema as wellrdquoAnd so theyrsquove released the comingofage short Sink In which follows Kiara whorsquos dating a man who is sinking deep into a couch dragging Kiara along Ali directed and cowrote while Barry cowrote acted in and produced the film The story came about in a midnight conversation between friends ldquoItrsquos embarrassing let Ida tell that storyrdquo Barry goes shy Ali continues ldquoWe were talking about her Barry and her life and we started thinking of a character that is too good for the people she datesrdquo Barry quips ldquoThatrsquos not embarrassing at all now that you put it like thatrdquoldquoIrsquom saying it in a good wayrdquo Ali saysldquoGuess which one of us is PR trainedrdquo Barry jokesldquoI think young girls can really relate to a story like this Itrsquos so easy to fall into that charm of a douchebag And they just happen to be guitarists stoners the totebagcarrying Raghavs of the worldrdquo Barry says ldquoWe canrsquot just believe in the potential of someonerdquolsquoSink Inrsquo follows Kiara whorsquos dating a man who is sinking deep into a couch dragging Kiara along Pic CourtesyKareema BarryWhat are some blue curtains theyrsquove left in their film we ask ldquoI think the guy wearing a hoodie that says lsquoAbroad Collegersquo is a good inside joke Because every guy like this has studied abroadrdquo Barry saysBoth of them hold films very close to their hearts ldquoItrsquos 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 Karanrdquo Barry saysAli adds ldquoIrsquove grown up in a film family And to me it was always a part of who I am I watch films Wersquore having dinnertable conversations about films And eventually at 15 I realised I wanted to be a filmmakerrdquo she says ldquoI think a good film is an entertaining film But beyond that it has the power to change the worldrdquoBoth have been working on quite a few projects for the last year and all of them are set to come out ldquoWe thought wersquoll utilise the time we have between projects and actually build somethingrdquo Barry says ldquoThis is entirely produced by us Wersquove 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 officesrdquoldquoAnd because we financed the film we knew we had to be thrifty We learnt how to make a jugaad You wouldnrsquot think that hard drives are so expensive or just how many of them you needrdquo Ali jokesAs young filmmakers Ali and Barry are really enjoying the film scene right now ldquoI just finished watching Sterling Point and I really enjoyed it This year wersquove had a lot of big spectacles like The Odyssey And of course wersquoll have the Ramayana in Indiardquo Ali says ldquoBut what Irsquove really enjoyed is the comeback of the midbudget film Irsquom 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 footrdquoBarry adds ldquoI like the scene better than what it was a few years ago at least I like a sliceoflife moment I think those films have really gotten their dues right now I think these films were just considered artsy indie films Nowadays itrsquos becoming mainstream I donrsquot think The Invite or The Drama would have been as popular a few years ago Because Malcolm amp Marie 2021 didnrsquot really work a few years ago and it was on similar linesrdquoShe notes ldquoYoung people should get to talk about young people more than anyone else We donrsquot get to watch enough stuff that just shows what itrsquos like to be a 20something which is why we seek foreign media Because they have younger writersrdquoSink In is just the beginning The duo already has two other short films in the pipeline and theyrsquore just wrapping a microseries brand campaign for Nua ldquoEventually 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 dordquo Ali says ldquoTherersquos so much talent that doesnrsquot get recognition or any project to do Itrsquos not even that theyrsquore not willing or theyrsquore not good at what theyrsquore doing Therersquos no community to get them togetherrdquoBarry adds ldquoI 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 wersquore in no rush It would be awesome if in time of need people can say lsquoWe can reach out to them and ask them if therersquos something that can be donersquordquo