Cargo (2019 film)

Last updated

Cargo
Cargo 2019 poster.jpg
Poster
Directed byArati Kadav
Written byArati Kadav
Produced byNavin Shetty
Shlok Sharma
Arati Kadav
Zain Matcheswalla
Anurag Kashyap
Starring Vikrant Massey
Shweta Tripathi
CinematographyKaushal Shah
Edited byParamita Ghosh
Music byShezan Shaikh
Production
companies
Fundamental Pictures
Electric Films
Distributed by Netflix
Release dates
  • 19 October 2019 (2019-10-19)(MAMI)
  • 9 September 2020 (2020-09-09)(Netflix)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Cargo is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language science fiction dark comedy film written and directed by Arati Kadav. [1] [2] The film is produced by Kadav, Shlok Sharma, Navin Shetty, Zain Matcheswalla, and Anurag Kashyap. [3] Starring Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi in the lead roles, the story is set on a spaceship named Pushpak 634A where a scientist Prahastha, works for the Post Death Transition services with the help of a female astronaut, where dead people are recycled for rebirth. [4] [5] Cargo premiered at the 2019 MAMI Film Festival under the spotlight section. [6] [7] The film premiered on Netflix on 9 September 2020. [8]

Contents

Cast

Production

Development

The idea of Cargo came to director Arati Kadav in 2017 after she worked on pre-production for a film for six years before it got shelved. After getting angry at the situation, Kadav started writing another script and after 2–3 months, she developed an idea. [9] A friend of her Rahul Puri had told her that film school Whistling Woods International was going to be free for a month and its studio space, camera and some lights will be available for shoot. [10] She started thinking about what could be made in a single location and pictured a spaceship. Kadav wrote a "complicated massive intergalactic superhero story" for the next three months but later realised it was too expensive to shoot. [10]

She then wrote a new screenplay based on a one liner, "an immigration office in space for dead people." [10] Cargo is the sixth screenplay written by Kadav who has earlier made short films like Time Machine. In order to manage the budget of the film, Kadav decided to make a film with minimum location. [11] She wrote a science fiction story set in a spaceship that also tapped into Indian mythology and issues like life and death. Kadav decided to showcase the technology in the film from the 1980s and not very advanced. She said, "I didn't want the tech to be intimidating but more endearing." [11] For references, her team looked at Gravity (2013) to real NASA visuals "to figure out what we could use from those films that wouldn’t cost us much." [10]

Kadav was planning to make a film with Phantom Films, but the production house dissolved and the project was shelved. However, its founders Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane decided to back Cargo. [12] Kadav cited Argentine short-story writer Jorge Luis Borges and sci-fi writer Ted Chiang as her inspirations for the story. [9] She stated: "Eastern sci-fi is more relatable as it matches with Indian culture in its milieu and values." [9] Massey felt the story "abstract and gorgeous", further mentioning: "I had to read the script in detail to [decipher] what she was saying. It stunned me, and that's when I knew I had to do this film." [13]

Filming and post-production

Several spaces from the set of spaceship were reused during the shoot. Discarded automated teller machines were used as palm reading machines in the film. [10] The film was shot in a spaceship set for 27 days. Kadav felt that a single-location film could be visually boring so decided to use a lot of different colours and lights to make it look interesting. [10] There were two spaceship sets for both interior and exterior shoots. It was also shot outdoors for nearly 10 days. [11] The entire shoot took 30 days and was finished in November 2018. [14] [15]

Kadav got permission to use a shooting floor at Whistling Woods International for a couple of weeks. She used the space to create the Pushpak 634A, a futuristic space station, and other domains in the film. [16] She said that she was "very aware of its graphics requirements while writing the script itself, and a VFX person was always involved in the making, right from the pre-production stage." [16]

Kadav consciously decided to keep the VFX to a minimum to cut costs and mostly use it to visualize the exterior of the jellyfish-like spaceship. Kadav decided to keep a retro feel to the visual design of the spaceship. The healing machine in the film was designed to look like an old vacuum cleaner. [16] She believed that there is "always [a] need to have a strong philosophy" at the core of the sci-fi genre" to "talk about things that continue to affect us and matter in our lives." [16]

Due to the low budget, motorcycle helmets were used for astronaut helmets in the film that were enhanced with paper and cardboard. [10] Konkana Sen Sharma plays a cameo appearance in the film for which Kadav wrote a long backstory which is not shown. [10] The visual effects work took a year to complete. Green screens were used while shooting at a specific angle and pages were printed and pasted pages on the backgrounds to trick people into thinking it was created in post-production. [10] The music is composed by Shezan Shaikh, the cinematography is done by Kaushal Shah while Paramita Ghosh has served as the editor. [17] [18]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes rated it 64%, based on 11 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10. [19]

Pradeep Menon of Firstpost wrote: "A philosophical tale, a dark comedy, and a tight budget space film all rolled into one, Cargo is one of those oddball movies that will undoubtedly go on to develop a bit of a cult following over time." [20] Tipu Sultan of HuffPost said that Kadav's "true success lies in how she wraps all this up under the garb of a comedy and serves up a film that is devilishly hilarious and ceaselessly entertaining." [9] Eric Kohn of IndieWire noted, "While Cargo stumbles on plot, it excels at vision, and bodes well for the potential of a filmmaker capable of innovating within familiar restraint." [21] Peter Debruge of Variety said that Kadav "shows creativity and a gift for world-building in this unlikely sci-fi fable, which playfully reimagines reincarnation." [22] Rahul Desai, a film critic from Film Companion says: "It’s both real and unreal at once, and the visual dissonance adds to the way Cargo – and its playful marriage of the past and future – hopes to be perceived." [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anurag Kashyap</span> Indian film director and screenwriter (born 1972)

Anurag Kashyap is an Indian film director and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France made him a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vikrant Massey</span> Indian actor (born 1987)

Vikrant Massey is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films and television. Noted for his versatility, Massey is the recipient of a Filmfare Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shweta Tripathi</span> Indian actress (b. 1985)

Shweta Tripathi Sharma is an Indian actress popularly known for the character of Golu Gupta in Mirzapur. She began her film career as a production assistant and associate director and gained wider recognition and accolades for her acting performances in the Hindi film industry and web series. Notable films include Masaan (2015) and Haraamkhor (2017).

<i>Ugly</i> (film) 2013 film by Anurag Kashyap

Ugly is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language thriller film written, co-produced and directed by Anurag Kashyap. Jointly produced by Phantom Films and DAR Motion Pictures, the film stars Rahul Bhat, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Vineet Kumar Singh, Girish Kulkarni, Surveen Chawla and Anshika Shrivastava in the lead roles. It also features TV actor Abir Goswami in his last film appearance before his death in 2013. Told in the course of a week, Ugly follows the story of a struggling actor Rahul Varshney (Bhat), whose daughter Kali (Shrivastava) disappears, and the events that follow.

<i>Shorts</i> (2013 film) 2013 Indian film

Shorts is a compilation of five short films directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, Vasan Bala, Anubhuti Kashyap, Shlok Sharma and Gitanjali Rao. The five short films titled Sujata, Mehfuz, Audacity, Epilogue, and Shor were released on 12 July 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anurag Kashyap filmography</span>

Anurag Kashyap is an Indian filmmaker and actor, known for his work in Hindi cinema. After writing a television series Kabhie Kabhie (1997), Kashyap co-wrote Ram Gopal Varma's crime drama Satya (1998). He later wrote and directed a short television film, Last Train to Mahakali (1999), and made his feature film debut with the yet-unreleased film Paanch. He next directed Black Friday (2007), a film on the 1993 Bombay bombings. Its release was barred by India's Censor Board for two years, but was eventually released in 2007 to positive reviews. The same year, he directed the critical and commercial failure No Smoking. Return of Hanuman (2007), an animated film, was Kashyap's next directorial venture. In 2009, he directed Dev.D, a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Bengali novel Devdas, along with the political drama Gulaal. Despite positive reviews, the latter was a box-office failure.

<i>Raman Raghav 2.0</i> 2017 film by Anurag Kashyap

Raman Raghav 2.0 is a 2016 Indian neo-noir psychological crime thriller film directed by Anurag Kashyap. Produced by Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl, and Madhu Mantena, the film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal, and debutante Sobhita Dhulipala. It depicts in eight chapters the cat and mouse chase of serial killer Ramanna (Siddiqui) by corrupt cop Raghavan (Kaushal). Real-life killer Raman Raghav, who operated in Mumbai during the 1960s, inspired the film.

<i>Imaikkaa Nodigal</i> 2018 film by R Ajay Gnanamuthu

Imaikkaa Nodigal is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu. It stars Nayanthara with Atharvaa, Raashii Khanna, and Anurag Kashyap, with the latter two both marking their debut in Tamil cinema in prominent roles. Vijay Sethupathi plays an extended cameo. The music was composed by Hiphop Tamizha, cinematography by R. D. Rajasekhar, editing by Bhuvan Srinivasan, and produced by C. J. Jayakumar. The film is a situational story focalizing on how a serial killer is apprehended by an intelligent CBI officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheetal Thakur</span> Indian actress (born 1991)

Sheetal Massey born and known professionally as Sheetal Thakur is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films and streaming television shows. She made her acting debut with the Punjabi film Bambukat in 2016, for which she received Filmfare Awards Punjabi Best Supporting Actress nomination. She made her Hindi film debut with Brij Mohan Amar Rahe in 2018. Thakur is known for her role in the films Chappad Phaad Ke, Shukranu and the web series Broken But Beautiful.

<i>Mukkabaaz</i> 2017 film

Mukkabaaz, released internationally as The Brawler, is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film co-written, co-produced and directed by Anurag Kashyap. Jointly produced by Aanand L. Rai's Colour Yellow Productions and Phantom Films, the film stars Vineet Kumar Singh, debutant Zoya Hussain, Ravi Kishan and Jimmy Shergill in the lead roles. It follows Shravan Kumar (Singh), an aspiring boxer, who falls in love with the niece of the boxing federation head, Bhagwan Das Mishra (Shergill). Kashyap, Singh, Mukti Singh Srinet, K.D.Satyam, Ranjan Chandel and Prasoon Mishra wrote the script.

<i>Sacred Games</i> (TV series) Indian crime thriller television series

Sacred Games is an Indian neo-noir crime thriller television series based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name. Produced and directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap under the banner of Phantom Films, it is India's first Netflix original series. The novel was adapted by Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath. Kelly Luegenbiehl, Erik Barmack and Motwane were the series' executive producers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avantika Khattri</span>

Avantika Khattri is an Indian Bollywood actress, producer, and director who debuted with the movie War Chhod Na Yaar in which she played the parallel lead with Soha Ali Khan along with co-stars Sharman Joshi and Javed Jaffrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanya Malhotra</span> Indian actress (born 1992)

Sanya Malhotra is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She has had supporting roles in the sports film Dangal (2016) and the action film Jawan (2023), both of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. Her other commercially successful films were the comedy Badhaai Ho (2018) and the biopic Sam Bahadur (2023).

Mirzapur is an Indian action crime thriller streaming television series created for Amazon Prime Video, by Karan Anshuman, who wrote the script along with Puneet Krishna & Vineet Krishna. Anshuman directed the first season of the series, along with Gurmmeet Singh and Mihir Desai, the latter of whom directed the second season. The series is produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar of Excel Entertainment. The story follows Akhandanand “Kaleen” Tripathi, a crime boss and businessman who is the proverbial ruler of Mirzapur district in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh state in India.

<i>Criminal Justice</i> (Indian TV series) Indian web series

Criminal Justice is an Indian Hindi-language crime thriller legal drama television series for Hotstar Specials, based on the 2008 British television series of the same name, written by Shridhar Raghavan and was directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia and Vishal Furia. Starring Pankaj Tripathi, Vikrant Massey, Jackie Shroff, Anupriya Goenka and Mita Vashisht in lead roles, the storyline follows the life of individuals on a gut-wrenching journey through the criminal justice system.

<i>Ghost Stories</i> (2020 film) 2020 Indian anthology film

Ghost Stories is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language anthology horror film, consisting of four short film segments directed by Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap. It is co-produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Ashi Dua under their production banner RSVP Movies and Flying Unicorn Entertainment respectively. The film features an ensemble cast, including Mrunal Thakur, Avinash Tiwary, Janhvi Kapoor, Raghuvir Yadav, Sobhita Dhulipala, Vijay Varma, and Pavail Gulati. It was released on Netflix on January 1, 2020.

<i>Haseen Dillruba</i> 2021 romantic thriller film directed by Vinil Mathew

Haseen Dillruba is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language romantic thriller film directed by Vinil Mathew and written by Kanika Dhillon. It stars Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey and Harshvardhan Rane.

Shlok Sharma is an Indian director, screenwriter and producer known for his works in Hindi cinema. His notable works include the 2013 anthology film Shorts, the 2017 feature film Haraamkhor and the 2018 feature film Zoo.

<i>Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein</i> Romantic crime-mystery, thriller series

Yeh Kaali kaali Ankhein is an Indian Hindi-language romantic crime thriller television series on Netflix created and directed by Sidharth Sengupta. The series stars Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shweta Tripathi and Anchal Singh in the lead roles with Saurabh Shukla, Surya Sharma, Arunoday Singh and Brijendra Kala playing supporting roles. The title of the series is derived from a song from the 1993 film Baazigar.

References

  1. ↑ Sharma, Priyanka (18 October 2019). "MAMI 2019: Five new female voices to watch out for". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "Vikrant Massey Plays Scientist in Anurag Kashyap's Cargo, India's First-ever Spaceship Sci-fi Film". CNN-News18. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  3. ↑ "Cargo teaser: Vikrant Massey plays Prahastha, a scientist, in sci-fi film produced by Anurag Kashyap". Firstpost. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  4. ↑ "Vikrant Massey, Shweta Tripathi's science fiction film 'Cargo' to be screened at Jio MAMI in Mumbai". The Free Press Journal. 9 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  5. ↑ "Cargo: India's first-ever sci-fi spaceship film teaser released". Wion. 17 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi starrer sci-fi film 'Cargo' teaser unveiled". The Times of India. 15 October 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "Vikrant Massey, Shweta Tripathi's Cargo at Jio MAMI film fest". Outlook. 9 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  8. ↑ "Cargo: Netflix Acquires Indian Sci-Fi Movie, Sets September Release Date". Gadgets 360. 25 August 2020. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Sultan, Tipu (22 October 2019). "How Director Arati Kadav Made 'Cargo', A Wildly Original Indian Sci-Fi Drama". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sequeira, Gayle (11 September 2020). "How To Shoot A Science-Fiction Film On A Low Budget". Film Companion.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  11. 1 2 3 Sahani, Alaka (17 October 2019). "Sci-fi acts as a prism to help look at reality: Cargo director Arati Kadav". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  12. ↑ Sinha, Seema (7 March 2020). "Cargo director Arati Kadav on challenges of making an indie sci-fi film, and perks of a screening at SXSW". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  13. ↑ Basu, Mohar (19 October 2019). "Vikrant Massey: Film is abstract and gorgeous". Mid Day. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  14. ↑ "Shweta Tripathi and Vikrant Massey to play Astronauts in 'Cargo'". The Times of India. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  15. ↑ "Each shot planned to the last detail, says Cargo director Arati Kadav". Mid Day. 8 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  16. 1 2 3 4 B.H., Harsh (16 September 2022). "Fantasy on a Budget: How 'Tumbbad', 'Cargo' and 'Bulbbul' Created their Richly-Imagined Worlds". Film Companion.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  17. ↑ Bhatt, Neha (14 September 2020). "Into the afterlife: Arati Kadav and Shweta Tripathi on their latest sci-fi film, 'Cargo'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  18. ↑ Tagat, Anurag (26 October 2019). "Guitarist Shezan Shaikh on Going From Metal to Movies as Producer-Composer". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  19. ↑ "Cargo (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  20. ↑ "Jio MAMI 21st Mumbai Film Festival: Arati Kadav's Cargo will undoubtedly develop cult following over time". Firstpost. 21 October 2019. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  21. ↑ Kohn, Eric (15 March 2020). "'Cargo' Review: The Afterlife Reimagined as a Low-Budget, Indian Sci-Fi Space Epic". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  22. ↑ "'Cargo': Film Review". Variety. 1 April 2020. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  23. ↑ "Cargo On Netflix Is A Creative Cocktail Of Spirituality And Science Fiction". Film Companion. 9 September 2020. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.