She took her chance!

A black and white film with no star power to drive it, undeniably aesthetically shot and artistically told, and you would ideally expect its final destination to be at best an OTT platform. But after its glorious run at prestigious film festivals, Second Chance is ready for a theatrical release.Director of photography Swapnil S Sonawane and director-writer Subhadra Mahajan—the husband-wife team—are super excited. Indeed, to freeze the beauty of the resplendent Himalayan region in black and white was Subhadra’s call. She recalls how right from conceptualising the film and her recce days she knew it had to be a black and white film. On hindsight she observes, “Colour would have been so distracting, made it more a National Geographic kind of project than a moving story.” Besides, she feels, in the context of the journey of film’s lead character Nia, her transition from darkness to light, colour would have taken away from the poignancy of her tale.For Swapnil, moving away from the ‘picture-postcard beauty’ yet bringing alive its serene magnificence was not a challenge but a, “once in lifetime opportunity. Black and white makes its characters’ emotions shine.”Since the film probes into many human concerns, including how pain unifies us beyond class divide, Subhadra professes, “At a time when we are being divided at the slightest pretext, I think talking about how we are united despite our differences needs to be underscored.” The story came to her from a very personal space. For someone born and brought up in Himachal Pradesh where the film is shot, half her life has been spent in her home-state, before she moved to Mumbai. For her, the film is essentially about the meeting of the two worlds, our relationship with mother-nature as well as about a girl dealing with her personal trauma.Interestingly, while the film begins as a love affair gone sour, the love of these two lovebirds blossomed during the making of the film. By the time the film ended, their relationship of six years too culminated in matrimony.Working together, however, was not a bed of roses. Recalls Swapnil, “When I began working with Subhadra, I thought she was going to love every frame of mine but soon realised she was not easy to please on the sets.”“Next time”, he interjects laughingly, “I am going to opt for separate rooms. You don’t have to hang out with other directors after they call pack-up…”On a serious note, he gives her all the credit and watching her work has enhanced his respect not just for her but other directors too. Since both of them happen to be executive producers of Second Chance, involvement with nitty-gritties of filmmaking has made him realise, “It is literally like taking a ship over the mountain.”For the debut director in Subhadra, having a DOP so committed to the film and with such a vast experience was a real bonanza. Swapnil considers working with the very best in the industry in projects like Sacred Games, Monica Oh My Darling, Newton, The Chello Show and more a very fortunate experience. He also dubs being part of Second Chance yet another step up.Celebrated filmmaker Pan Nalin, who has steered their careers in different ways comes in for fulsome praise too. Subhadra who co-wrote Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddesses hails him as her godfather. Back in 2015, the film may not have done the box-office numbers in India but was path-breaking. It not only spoke of sisterhood and deep friendships among women but also same-sex relationship. Today as the LGBTQ community is finding a fair enough depiction in our films/series, she still feels more stories could/should be written. She herself is writing another one on relationships beyond any constraint. While Swapnil will soon be busy with yet another film by his Badhai Do director Harshvardhan Kulkarni, he is eagerly awaiting for what Subhadra does next. A tough taskmaster she may be, together they know they can literally surmount many mountains, even shoot in freezing temperatures as Second Chance demanded. The world might be going gaga over the power of one but hope and light truly shine when creativity is raised to the power of two.

She took her chance!

Nonika Singh

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