Lit, a short film made in a single shot, garners praise at film festivals and on YouTube

Don Palathara's Malayalam film, Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam, was in the news recently for being made as a single-shot film, the story of which happens in a moving car. Now, young filmmaker Bharathan Kumanan has pulled off a similar feat with his short film, titled Lit, which has a running time of around 25 minutes. According to a report in Chennai Times, the short film which belongs to dark humour genre, won awards at Gona Film Awards, Eastern Europe Film Festival, Golden Sparrow International Film Festival, Indo French International Film Festival and Tagore International Film Festival.

Bharathan, who has worked in films like Meesaya Murukku and Natpe Thunai, says that he already had the experience of doing a three-minute single-shot film as his college final-year project. It was the interest in doing a single-shot film of longer duration which made him take up Lit. The film revolves around the kidnapping of a man in a car. The series of events that unfolds when a stranger hitches a ride in the car forms the rest of the story. The team of Lit which had four actors, YouTuber Hari Baskar, Guhan Prakash, Pallavi Das and Alexander, rehearsed for a week's time before the project went on floors.  

The director said that shooting the film in a single shot was quite challenging as they had to do all the operations in a moving car. The biggest challenge, however, was to wrap up the film in limited budget. Arjun Raja, who has cranked the camera for Hiphop Adhi’s forthcoming project Sivakumarin Sabatham, has handled cinematography for Lit. Apart from the recognitions the project has been receiving from film festivals, Bharathan is also elated at the response from viewers. Lit, which was released last month on YouTube, has clocked half-a-million views. The icing on the cake, he says, is getting words of appreciation from director Dharani.