Sitges 2025: Interviewing Bhargav Saikia and Harsh Vaibhav (Bokshi)

 

Mike y sus Chinos: How has been your experience in the festival so far? How is the audience? How is the organisation?

Bhargav Saikia: This is my second time at Sitges. So, I'm a proud alumnus of this amazing festival. I came in 2016 with a short film called Awakenings, which was my first ever work as a director. That played in Brigadoon. So, I made a promise to myself that when I made my first feature film as a director, I had to come back here. And this has happened. I'm also very happy that I could get my friend and writer, Harsh, along with me.

Harsh Vaibhav: For me, this is the first time. But I've heard about it, I knew about the festival from before. But since we started making the film, I've been hearing Bhargav rave about Sitges. And now finally I came and I knew where that whole emotion was coming from. Yeah. Honestly, it's like... We can't wait to make another film and come back to Sitges.

BHS: So, I think Sitges is perfect, you know... It goes beyond just being like a film festival. Firstly, the audience is so dedicated. And so, they keep coming back year after year, right? To watch films and just cheer independent genre filmmakers. And it's a carnival. It's a celebration of so many things unique. It's a place for misfits. So, I find myself at home her.

HV: It's a geek paradise. But in India, we have that thing called the Kumbh Mela. Which is like the largest congregation, largest religious congregation on earth. It's like millions of people every year, they come to a particular place on a particular date. It's a religious thing. So, I think this is like the Kumbh Mela for genre fans. It has that feeling. It's like the sentiment is so strong.

BHS: We premiered in Rotterdam this year, but I've always told Harsh, even if we get into Cannes, Rotterdam, Berlin, whatever, we have to come here. This is a must pit stop for the film. And yeah, I'm very thankful to Angel Sala and Diego from Rigadoon who actually spotted... I mean, I think he was keeping an eye on what I'm doing. And he was the one who kind of referred the film. And then Angel Sala and Cine Asia, they liked the film, they selected it. It's amazing. I mean, it's a dream. 
We were supposed to be here for like three nights, but we told the festival we're going to stay for the holidays. We've come here as cinephiles, more than filmmakers. 

MysC: Are you watching other movies?

HV: Yeah, we're watching films daily. We saw three movies yesterday.

MysC: Which movies did you saw?

HV: We saw Singular, the Spanish film. And we saw The Legend of Ochi.

BHS: And from tomorrow onwards, all the hotly anticipated titles. No other choice, Frankenstein, Gaua, we're planning to check out Gaua tomorrow morning. Actually, I met Paul when I came in 2016. So, I watched his short films and followed his journey. And his rise has been quite meteoric. Spanish fantastic.

HV: I was not aware of him, but Bhargava has been talking about Gaua for 2-3 months.

BHS: And one of my most favourite filmmakers is J.A. Bayona. I met him that same day too in 2016. I love Spanish fantastic films. 

MysC: How was the idea for Bokshi? How was it born?

BHS: As a director, I wanted to make my first feature. I grew up in a boarding school, in the northeastern state of Assam, where I come from. So, from this school, we were sent on these annual expedition trips to the neighbouring states, which are all like Himalayan hill states. There was this one particular trip, I think I was in 7 grade, we were sent to this state called Arunachal Pradesh, which is close to Assam. That was a very memorable trip for me and for my entire class. We camped next to a river for around a week. And there was a Hindu cremation ground right next to our campsite. We saw a cremation happening and a group of students got lost during that trip while trekking. So, it was filled with these spooks and scary little things scattered throughout the trip. And as a child, I really enjoyed the feeling of being scared. You know, I love that feel. Sometimes, even now... We go off to these remote locations. For a writing trip or whatever. Just to experience that feel. So that trip remained in my mind and when I met Harsh, I said... Let's make a supernatural horror film, centered around high school students. They go on a school trip and they encounter something unusual there. Something adventurous and unusual. And because this trip happened many years ago, by mistake I told him this trip was in Sikkim. Where Bokshi is set. So, we ended up going to Sikkim. We researched for the film. We wanted to learn about the folklore and local cultural traditions.

HV: Sikkim is like a different world. It's a state which is bordering Tibet. In the northeastern part of India, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. And it's like a self-contained place. Where spirits are as real as the rocks and the trees. People believe in them so much, it actually becomes real. For example, if you have an upset stomach, they will know that you went near that tree, so it’s that spirit and you should take this and you'll be fine. And of course, it's a make-believe thing. But the belief is so strong and so pure it really took us in.

BHS: So, everything in Bokshi, all the main thematic elements, starting from the titular character Bokshi, which means “witch” in Nepali, to all the other themes of nature, environment, the correlation between women and earth, it all comes from our research in the state of Sikkim. We met scholars, talk with the locals…

HV: And actual shamans. Some shamans promised to show us the feet of a spirit in a drum. It was just an amazing, rich trip.

BHS: So, if I would have told him that my trip was in Arunachal Pradesh, we would have made a totally different film. It wouldn't have been Bokshi. It was a happy mistake. Then the trip in the film would have happened in Arunachal and we would be inspired by their folklore. And North-East of India is very rich in diverse traditions. Every corner has a different tale to tell.

MysC: I don't have any knowledge about folklore in India. I have a little bit of knowledge about Hinduism. Does it revolve around Hinduism? The folklore? 

HV: The lore that you see in the film is totally invented. It's not real. But the seeds are real. And those seeds come more from tribal beliefs, because Hinduism is like a pan-India thing.
It's like a very large umbrella. And then there are tribal beliefs which exist under that umbrella. So, we don't go to the Hindu pantheon in this film. But what we are trying to say is that Bokshi and whatever we are talking about in the film is much older than organized religion. I don't want to spoil it. But once you watch the film...

BHS: And we have created our own language for the film. We are treating it as the language of the witches. So, we got a very well-known linguist from the Netherlands. He is actually the vice president of this organization called Language Christian Society. He is very deeply interested in Indian culture and movies as well. He came on board and worked with us.

HV: And it's a fully functional language. Like you can speak it.

BHS: You can actually learn it. We will release the grammar soon so you can learn the language.

HV: We wanted it to be like the mother of all languages. So, it's like a proto-Indo-European language. You might feel there are some words which might be similar to say Spanish, some to Sanskrit or Hindi or Persian. It's supposed to be the one language from where all the languages came out.

BHS: Yeah. And I think we are the second Indian film to do it after Bahubali. Bahubali as a fictional language. But in Bokshi we have used it extensively the language we have created. It's like almost 20%. 

MysC: So, the actors learned it?

BHS: Yeah, they learned it. And most of it is also telepathically communicated. But yeah, they've learned it. We've tried to do some odd things here and there.

 

MysC: You told us that a lot of the inspiration comes from their own folklore. But what did inspire the visual things of the movie?

BHS: I was very sure that we're going to shoot everything in real locations. And most of the film is set in the forests. It was hugely ambitious for us to get this film rolling, being myself the sole producer and Harsh the executive producer. We got a bit lucky because what happened is that when we were doing our research in Sikkim we became friends with many locals and many influential people who stay in villages. So, we chose one of these villages called Darab, which became our base in west Sikkim, and we chose forest blocks around this village. I think more than half of the village was helping us during the shoot.

HV: The entire village actually, because either they were employed as drivers or as porters who were helping us, because we were carrying about 1000 kg of equipment 2 kms into the forest. And then bring it out. And this was happening in the sub-Himalayan winters, where we could see on the mountain ranges that it was snowing. And the locals saying that the night was going to be very cold, so, we had to get 300 kg more of wood just to keep the people warm. I used to curse myself for writing it, because it could have said in the morning or something.

BHS: So, the saying, it takes a village to make a film, is literally true in our case.

HV: Couple of villages in fact (laughs).

BHS: We had a lot of help from the locals. And we had a very young crew, which is behind the making of this film. For many of us it's our debut feature film. Including the lead protagonist, who plays Anahita. Her name is Prasanna Bisht. And for me visually as a director, I think it's the locations. And because we travelled so extensively, during our research, for almost 1.5 years, Sikkim became our home.

MysC: That is very well researched.

HV: At the same time, we were also looking at locations. Trying to see where it might be possible to shoot, because it's a mountainous region. And the rain during Indian monsoons is very heavy there. So, there is a very small shooting window. You can shoot in that state for maybe 45-50 days. Before that it's going to rain too much. After that it's going to be too cold.

BHS: And as a director I like the visual language of the film to be slightly elevated. I like playing something between fantastical and reality. So that was my attempt. In terms of the visual treatment. We had a beautiful gradation in terms of how the film begins. It begins in Darjeeling where we see bungalows and tea gardens, and it goes to a school, which is my actual boarding school in Assam. Then we come to the forest, and within the forest there is a lot of gradation. When you watch the film, as the narrative progresses, the thematic elements also open up. You will also see the visual language keeping in sync with the narrative. And the film ends in a slightly surprising way. I wanted to go for like an explosion on screen. We attempted that. Of course we had very limited resources, being an independent film, but I think we have managed.
Just a quick point. We ran into serious financial issues while shooting the film. We ran out of money after the first two shooting schedules. We had to stop shooting for one year and come back because we also wanted the winter look. We raise the remaining funds. Make sure the entire huge cast is available again.

HV: Continuity and everything. To see if they have not gained weight or grown taller. Somebody had started gymming right after shooting the first schedule. When we met the person after one year he was all jacked up, with biceps.

BHS: So Bokshi was, for me especially, as a solo producer, like a little monster. Like literally. A little monster which was about to gobble me up. But we survived. And we are here. So it's like cool.

MysC: This is something that when people watch a movie don't realize: how much effort, pain, sleepless hours and money is invested.

BHS: But I guess that's okay. No matter what kind of film it is. Small, big. Everyone works hard. And also, the point of view of the filmmakers, which go in. What we want to say exactly.

HV: And there are a lot of things that can go wrong, of course, which can totally break the film. And somehow it feels like it's a miracle that the film gets made. Because if you think of it, it starts sitting alone, you are writing something on a piece of paper. There is no value to it. And then more people come in. And they also start feeling something. And then so many people come together to make something.

BHS: It's a lot of creative minds, a lot of egos, which come together. Literally we are managing minds while navigating. That's the job. It's fun.

MysC: What were you looking for when choosing the actors, the main cast?

BHS: One of the main leads, the teacher Shalini played by Mansi Mughali, I was watching this Netflix series called Suitable Boy by Mira Nair and she was playing one of the supporting characters, and as soon as I saw her on the TV I thought, she is the one. I reached out to her through Instagram and she was gracious enough to get back and it happened. Just like that. But we had a casting director for the rest of the cast. And we have a very diverse cast, not only actors from Mumbai. We have actors from Darjeeling, Sikkim and Assam. A lot of actors from the north east of India. It was very difficult for us to cast because everything was happening during the COVID pandemic. So, the casting director could not meet or travel or do auditions in person. It was all happening virtually. Even for me as a director, I think I met all the actors for the first time on the first day of the set. And before that it was all Zoom calls. I wouldn't do that again but we couldn't help it. 

HV: And once we went to the region of the country where we filmed, most of the actors who are playing those characters are actually people from there.

MysC: And how was the experience working with the locals?

BHS: Great! They were so enthusiastic. Actually, when you take a production from Mumbai and you shoot in places like northeast of India. Generally, you hire a crew or cast from there. They are very eager. What happens is that the cinema from the northeast it's very underrepresented in the so called mainland India. So, it's like a good opportunity for them. For me also, I'm from the northeast. They were very enthusiastic and eager. And I think all of us knew we were making something special. That bond and dedication, and everyone coming back after a year to complete the film, is something which will stay with us forever. Till the time we die, I guess. We will always remember this.

HV: I think, apart from the people who came with us from Bombay or from other parts of India, the locals who were there they felt it was their film too. We have been going there for so long. For example: this guy called Lalit who used to drive us and show us locations and take us to different villages, over a year. When finally we were shooting he was the guy who was managing all the cars and everything. You know. They felt like it's their film. And it was.
A lot of people from different parts of the country fighting for a common cause.

BHS: And apart from the shooting, for the post production we had some of the leading technicians from Mumbai. They have really helped to give that technical finesse. I am really proud of that facet of Bokshi. We had some really cool people work on it.

MysC: Can you tell us a fun scene to shoot? And a difficult one?

HV: Fun scene… Maybe I will think about the difficult ones. There are so many… So many… 

BHS: I think the most difficult and the most fun will be the climax of the film. Because we were shooting the climax when we were heading towards the financial crisis. And there was no option to come back the following year to shoot that, mostly because of continuity.

HV: There was some expensive equipment which was being used. 

BHS: Equipment and lights, we had multiple cameras. And for me as a director I was most looking forward to that particular climax sequence. That was pure genre storytelling. It has a lot of oddities and madness. I was under a lot of pressure to shoot the sequence, and the entire sequence was shot during late night, during peak winter. So, it was difficult. And even for Harsh as our executive producer.

HV: The location and what we made there, making that again and getting all the equipment again, that would have been impossible.

BHS: But we are extremely proud of how the climax has shaped up. And from whatever feedback we've received so far, from Rotterdam till here, I think the climax has been really appreciated. Even Angel Sala commented about the climax in an interview we gave recently. 
We're really proud of it. And I think the climax is going to stand out as something unique from Indian cinema. We're hopeful when the film comes out in India eventually, people will talk about the sequence. We're really proud of it. We don't know how the rest of the film will be. But the climax is something I will stand by always. Fun and challenging. 

MysC: What did you want to explain with this story besides being a folklore genre movie? 

BHS: Our first attempt was to make a genre film, a horror film. But one which kind of goes beyond the stereotypes of what is expected from a horror film. We wanted to go slightly beyond that. Of course, there are films like Midsomar, Hereditary or Suspiria. What they do with the use the genre to say something more. So that was our attempt. And the themes we highlighted and what Harsh also wrote.

HV: How can it be a lens to analyse something which is more real around us. And relevant. That was the thing. And let's say history, identity and rebellion, and how power treats those kinds of things, was something that we wanted to explore through the girl's journey. It's about how trauma... If it is not really processed, what it leads to. And not just for individuals, but us together as a species also. So, it's not just about a girl. Through the girl's story, we are talking about humanity on the whole.

MysC: It's interesting though that you choose a girl to tell a story. 

BHS: There is a reason behind that. Say the title of the film, Bokshi, which means “witch” in Nepali. We wanted to subvert the negative idea of the witch. So, the film has a very strong feminist undercurrent. Why the protagonist is a female, you will get to know. It will all tie in towards the end. When I was making the film as a director... Back in my head, I knew I was making a folk horror film. But when I was directing the actors or communicating with the other departments in the post-production, I told the music director not to approach the film as a horror film. Because I didn't want the typicalities of the horror genre to creep in. The idea was to approach it as a dark, coming-of-age journey of a protagonist.

HV: Like a dark, coming-of-age fairy tale. A fable. 

BHS: But that said, we really wanted to make a scary film. Without any social messaging, nothing. Just a scary film. As an audience, I think the number of real scary films have reduced. I'm kind of craving for one, so maybe we should make one. 

HV: We are working on a couple of things. One of them is a film which we just want to scare people. We really want to scare everybody who watches that film. And we want this audience to cheer while it's scary. Hopefully in the next few years.

MysC: Describe your movie in one word.

BHS: Wild. Wild and... 

HV: Mad.

BHS: Three words, wild, ambitious and mad.

MysC: Last question, what would you say to the audiences that haven't watched your film yet?

HV: Please come watch it. 

BHS: And be prepared to expect something which you might not expect from an Indian film. So, be prepared for a slightly different experience. And keep your mind open.