Director Sanju Surendran on the big win at the Busan International Film Festival 2025 for his film, ‘Khidki Gaav’

In the penultimate country of Sanju Surendran’s If connected a Winter’s Night (Khidki Gaav), a disturbing soundlessness dawns connected the assemblage arsenic the 2 protagonists, Abhi and Sarah, played by Roshan Abdul Rahoof and Bhanu Priyamvada, hold astatine a autobus halt indefinitely. The chilling Delhi wintertime night, conveyed done the acold hues and convincing performances, combined with an unexpected downpour, overgarment the sombre representation of a Malayali migrant youth.

However, for Sanju, Khidki Gaav is the extremity of a agelong wait, lasting respective winters to sprout the movie successful Delhi owed to a deficiency of resources. The manager believes the movie is yet getting its owed credit, aft winning the Hylife Vision Award astatine the Busan International Film Festival 2025 which concluded recently. The movie competed successful the Asia Vision category.

Shot successful the archetypal fractional of 2024, the movie revolves astir a young Malayali mates successful a live-in narration successful Delhi, arsenic they effort to marque ends meet; portion Abhi battles connection barrier, Sarah fends disconnected the controlling family.

“We were trying to research modern relationships successful an municipality abstraction — its complexities, ups and downs, and truthful on. Scriptwriter Rekha Raj had a bully manus successful processing the opposing characterisations of the protagonists,” says Sanju.

“This movie is based connected a fewer idiosyncratic experiences of my friends. The speech astir Khidki Gaav began erstwhile Rahul Pratap Singh, who wrote the Hindi dialogues successful the movie, mentioned Musafir (1957) by Ritwik Ghatak, which is astir a rented location and 3 radical successful antithetic stages of their lives,” says Sanju.

Initially changeable with fiscal assistance from Sanju’s friends successful the movie industry, Khidki Gaav gained attraction arsenic a Top Selects movie astatine the Waves Bazaar task marketplace held successful Mumbai aboriginal this year, securing the Asian Cinema Fund assistance for post-production. It was besides portion of the CineV-CHD task marketplace successful Chandigarh. Ace manager Payal Kapadiya’s introduction arsenic an enforcement shaper was besides a invited astonishment for Sanju.

Delhi and wintertime

“The Hindi rubric of the movie refers to the abstraction the movie is acceptable in, and the English rubric is astir the clip oregon season,” says Sanju, referring to Khidki Gaon, a colony successful Delhi, known for affordable accommodation facilities for students.

“Even aft 7 days into the shoot, we were inactive searching for a location for the protagonists. The radical who agreed had backed out. At last, we recovered a student’s apartment, which had conscionable a bench, desk, and beds,” says Sanju.

He adds, “It is hard everyplace for bachelors to get adjacent accommodation. This gets worse with the north-south divide. There are adjacent places that let lone vegetarians. The movie is simply a crystallisation of specified experiences,” says Sanju.

He mentions that Delhi is simply a hard spot to sprout in. “When I changeable my archetypal film, Aedan: Garden of Desire (2017), successful Kerala, determination were nary hassles.” Delhi plays a relation successful the movie arsenic Abhi does not talk Hindi.

The director, a pupil of the precocious Mani Kaul, legendary filmmaker and erstwhile module astatine the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, narrates however the landlord, a colourful character, who wore Hawaii shirts with golden bracelets and watch, and rode Royal Enfield motorcycle similar Fahadh Faasil’s quality successful Aavesham, celebrated his day connected the acceptable and made Instagram reels with the creation manager Fyodor Sam Brook and accumulation decorator Dileep Das. “When I asked them astir it, Dileep said, ‘If we don’t entertain him, helium mightiness interrupt the climax shoot,’” Sanju jokes.

Sanju, a instrumentality of French filmmaker Robert Bresson, turned to his conception of grace (meaning a blessed mishap portion the camera is rolling) portion resorting to guerrilla shooting, which helium believes has benefitted the film.

“I similar the thought of improvisation. Even though we person a publication and actors, we effort to spell beyond it. We had a precise constricted abstraction to enactment with, and if the abstraction was not shown interestingly, it would person been redundant,” says Sanju.

For instance, astatine a captious juncture of the film, erstwhile the protagonists are successful a authorities of sadness and frustration, the camera cuts to idiosyncratic walking connected the roads wearing a t-shirt with the connection ‘miserable’ written connected it. “Some of these elements conscionable came astir portion we were shooting. Even the rainfall during the climax is 1 specified element,” says Sanju.

The Ensemble

“Roshan contacted maine connected societal media erstwhile I enactment retired a casting call. I felt helium had a spark of innocence that would bash justness to the character.” Roshan had changeable to fame with his debut movie, Omar Lulu’s Oru Adaar Love, on with Priya Prakash Warrier, particularly with the song, ‘Manikyamalaraya’.

“Bhanu, who has besides starred successful Madras Matinee (2025) and Daveed (2025), came connected committee astatine the past infinitesimal aft respective actresses had backed out, delivered a realistic enactment arsenic Sarah. Jitheesh Raichel Samuel arsenic Simon besides performed well.”

Roshan and Arathy KB who plays Gopika, attended acting workshops. “More importantly, we changeable for 42 days and spent prime clip with each other. This allowed them to get into the tegument of the characters and beryllium confident.”

“Colour grading plays a important relation successful the movie. I americium grateful to my colourist, Ethan Park, who joined the task aft we got the Asian Cinema fund. He sees the satellite done textures and colours and brought the wintery consciousness to the audience,” says Sanju, besides commenting connected the costume plan by Leena Thushara and cinematography by seasoned Manesh Madhavan.

Moving guardant

Sanju, who directed the nationalist award-winning documentary Kapila, says, “I effort to spot each movie arsenic a caller travel and effort not to repetition myself oregon a definite occurrence formula. The process of Khidki Gaav is precise antithetic from Aedan’s. Each movie is simply a caller adventure.” He is gearing up for his adjacent directorial, Fishers of Men/Kothiyan, written by S. Harish. “It was awarded the second-best movie astatine past year’s National Film Development Corporation’s Film Bazaar co-production market.”

He adds, “For Khidki Gaav, we are awaiting responses from a fewer festivals and readying a constricted theatrical release. It is simply a pugnacious travel ahead.”