Maisam Ali’s debut feature film In Retreat (Ladakhi, Hindi) narrates a day in the life of a middle-aged man who returns to his small mountain town after missing his brother’s funeral. Overwhelmed by memories of the past, the protagonist hesitates to enter his family’s house. In Retreat offers a viewing experience that feels like a delicate miniature — profoundly humanist, occasionally contemplative and beautifully shot with textured camerawork depicting Ladakh as a landscape that is sometimes impassive yet graced with moments of quiet beauty.    

In Retreat premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. In this interview, Ali discusses his idea of home, the underlying meanings of various scenes and why festivals are important for niche filmmakers like him.

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Dipankar Sarkar: How much did your personal experiences contribute to how you structured the events of In Retreat?

Maisam Ali: It’s a personal film, and so far I have approached filmmaking based on what I think it should be. I’m drawn to making personal films because they affect you deeply and help you create something meaningful. This is one film that brings home a feeling I’ve always felt — an ambiguous sense of belonging and home. Most of us drift away from our hometowns for whatever reason. We go to colleges in bigger cities, then come back home to small towns. Our values change, and we kind of feel we no longer belong to the community we grew up in. In a way, since childhood, I had been very interested in the concept of being a stranger. My mind always strays to the margins, to the alleyway, to those who seem out of place, be it a vendor or a night traveler, like the protagonist of my film. So, this interest has stayed with me and is closely tied to my identity. When someone asks me where I’m from or poses other defining questions, I find it difficult to answer. There is a sort of uncertainty. 

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DS: In Retreat begins with a shot of a hurried young boy carrying bread to his home, viewed from inside a vehicle reversing down a narrow alley. Does this imply the protagonist’s sense of detachment and isolation as he perceives his surroundings?

MA: I never really thought about it that way. I don’t think there is any single meaning to a shot. That shot, though, was one of our few early conceived shots. So, it felt important to us for its design and how it opened the film. I can’t say for sure if it has any specific meaning… maybe subconsciously. But for me, it was the perspective of seeing through the back of a window. It’s something I’ve always found interesting. As a kid, maybe you’ve looked through the window from the other side and it evokes a certain kind of feeling. It’s got a sense of memory attached to it, and that’s what the shot has for me — what made it compelling. 

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DS: At a restaurant, a conversation begins between a man and woman, but it doesn’t last long as the latter character wants to close the restaurant before dark. Later, the male reluctantly becomes part of a ceremony and gets insulted. He also asks a woman on the road for the address of a hotel. Through these scenes, were you trying to show that, despite the man’s desire to connect with the space and the people, he is ultimately unable to?

MA: He knows he is there for such a short time. There’s no moment in the film where he suddenly changes dramatically or simply decides to stay, find a home or have a sense of purpose. It’s not that kind of a film. He is just trying to exist in that space, trying to make the time worthwhile to him, in his way. These are things that are happening to him.  During the day, society shows you one reality, but at night, for a stranger like our protagonist, the city, town or whatever space he is in reveals something very different, something abstract, maybe even strange events. It is something that even people who live there by day do not notice or understand.

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DS: In Retreat’s cinematography is filled with beautifully hushed shots of Ladakh’s least glamorous locations, from lamp-lit streets to residential blocks and isolated roads. How did you and your cinematographer, Ashok Meena, work together to evoke tranquility within the frames?  

MA: We spent a lot of time together. Meena was involved with the film from the very beginning. He had been in that area before doing his own documentary and non-fiction projects, so he was familiar with the area. When we started scouting locations, it was a simple process of breaking down each scene and deciding how we wanted to approach it. I was very clear right from the word “go” that I didn’t want to go for highly stylized shots or wide-angle/low-angle framing, though the location was so tempting for that. For any cinematographer, it would be tough to resist. He [Meena] understood this perfectly in essence and was the one person who grasped what the film was all about.     

Even in moments where the character is passing by someone else’s house, Meena and I knew that the house was significant on a subtle level. It’s not that it is the protagonist’s house, but it is symbolically. The idea that his own house doesn’t feel like home extended to these other spaces as well. Eventually, we fell into the same rhythm in terms of shots, the height of the camera and the movement. We had a mutual understanding throughout the process. 

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DS: How long did it take to shoot In Retreat?

MA: We had two main schedules — one was about 27 days, and then there was another of around seven or eight days, with a gap of two months between them. After that, we added three or four more days for insert shots. It was challenging, especially since people had to fly in from Bombay to Ladakh, and it wasn’t always easy to coordinate.

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DS: You co-edited In Retreat with Raghavender Vuppuganti. How did this collaboration help you introduce a different perspective to the structure while maintaining your creative control?

MA:  So, Raghavender edited a couple of drafts and then I started editing myself. I like all aspects of making a film, but editing in particular excites me because that’s where everything comes together. Something new is created in the edit. For me, the chronology of events in the film was important. I have a personal relationship with the space because I’m from there. The idea of being from a small town or even some part of a city carries a certain geography in your mind. You know where things are, and how they’re connected, and that understanding was something unique to me. That’s why I wanted to approach the edit in a way that reflected the space and its importance to me. I wanted the film to represent a bigger picture of the place. 

As for collaboration, it was a good experience, even though it took some time to get in sync. It was my first feature film. Up ’till then, I had only done short films. Working with another editor brought a different perspective. As a director, it’s easy to get too attached to certain scenes or shots. The editor can be objective and see that things are not dragging on too long, or when something needs to be tightened up. That objectivity helped refine the film and make it crisper.

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DS: There is a sense of beauty and awe in the ambient sound of the surroundings as the man aimlessly strolls through the night. Why did you choose to use the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Glenn Gould to enhance In Retreat’s atmosphere?

MA: Yeah, about music specifically, it’s more like knowing when to accentuate certain moments in the film. I would have preferred to rely solely on ambient sound. But there are moments where you need an added layer to draw the viewer’s attention or heighten a particular feeling. Sometimes, if a viewer isn’t invested, the music can drive them into the mood or emotion you would like to portray. 

There’s one music track I really liked, a piece by Bach — well, it’s not originally by him, but a well-known rendition of it exists, including one by Glenn Gould. That track served as a leitmotif to the film, and it worked well to link things together. It gave me a feeling of unity and recognition when it appeared again in subsequent scenes.

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DS: How did Saroj Kherotia and Thanikachalam come on board as co-producers?

MA:  I got introduced to Saroj Kherotia through a friend. They told me about a new company that was looking to get into filmmaking, and they were open to supporting projects like mine. So, I pitched the idea for my film right at the beginning. I explained that it’s an internal journey of a character returning home, with elements that are poetic and somewhat spiritual. They showed interest, especially when I mentioned that I could make it on a very tight budget with minimal resources.

We began working on the production together. Since this was a new venture for them, I found myself taking on a lot of the production responsibilities in addition to directing. Being from the area where we were shooting helped because I knew how to manage things locally, like calling in favors from people I knew, arranging accommodations, getting discounted rates from local taxi drivers and so on. It was a real challenge to handle both production and directing at the same time, but it was necessary.

The production company, Varsha Production House, gave me a lot of freedom. They trusted me, and that made it a perfect environment to work in. As a first-time filmmaker, you need the freedom to experiment, visit locations and take your time getting things right. They were open to all of that, which allowed me to work with minimal resources while still having complete creative control.

After the production wrapped, I spent around six or seven months editing. I experimented a lot during the edit, trying out different things. Toward the end of this process, while I was at Film Bazaar, I met Thanikachalam. By then, I had a cut that was around 75-76 minutes long. I approached him, asking if he’d be interested in coming on board as a co-producer to help finish the post-production. To my surprise, he turned out to be someone with a deep understanding of cinema. He liked the film and consulted some of his friends about its potential, especially for film festivals. After receiving positive feedback, he came on board. We worked together on sound design, a few editing tweaks and color correction. His understanding of cinema, especially art films, made it a fruitful collaboration.

Overall, I’ve been quite lucky. As a middle-class person, making a film is not easy. The odds are often against you, but with the right support and a bit of luck, it’s possible.

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DS: You cast Harish Khanna as the protagonist, an actor known for his work in several mainstream films, including the 2023 hit 12th Fail. What led you to choose him for this role?

MA: I was looking for actors who had that vibe for the character. So, I first approached Robin Das, who is a teacher at NSD, New Delhi. We worked together earlier on a student project that I made during FTII, Pune. I loved his work; however, due to health issues and the challenges of shooting in Ladakh’s high altitude during COVID, it wasn’t feasible for him. Then I discovered Harish Khanna, whose work interested me. He had a calm, graceful presence that matched the rhythm of the film. Once I spoke with him, I was pretty sure he would be able to understand the character and the project. And then there was the need to break away from the conventional Ladakh portrayals in cinema. People always have in their minds an idea of what Ladakhi faces should be. But Ladakh, like any place, is varied. And being a Muslim from Ladakh, people sometimes take a moment to realize that I am from there. So, the diversity, among different people, was something that I wanted to reflect in my film.

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DS: In Retreat had its world premiere at Cannes and will have an Asian premiere in Busan this month. How important are these film festivals to you as an independent filmmaker?

MA: Cannes has been a huge platform for me, and it gave my film that visibility which led to conversations like we are having now. It changed how people look at my work, and it motivated me to keep pushing forward. For filmmakers like me, festivals are crucial because they offer a space where films are appreciated without being judged by conventional standards like plot points or lack of drama. The premiere at Cannes was a good start for all of us in the crew, most of whom worked without payment, hoping the project would come off. The recognition at the festival reassured all of us that our investment of time, energy and money did finally pay off. 

My experience at Busan was also remarkable. It’s a world-class festival that is meticulously organized and has an audience that is highly engaged. It’s Asia’s biggest festival for a reason, and it was wonderful interacting with the audience. My film is not the kind that normally would provoke widespread excitement, but their understanding of cinema was impressive. Even the film market is pretty big there and it was a pretty good experience.

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DS: In Retreat will have its Indian premiere at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Are you excited about it?

MA: As for MAMI, yes, it’ll be the film’s premiere in India. I am nervous about how the Bombay audience would react to it. At the same time, I’m also excited for friends, colleagues and viewers to see the film on a big screen. Hopefully, it will lead to more screenings across India. I hope to screen the film in Ladakh soon. However, sometimes it gets quite challenging for me because I am working on a very particular kind of filmmaking, so there are very few people who would strongly connect with this film, with whom I can bond and talk to create some kind of community. That’s why these festivals and screenings are also important to me. They allow me to make valuable connections and help things move forward.

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DS: Are you considering a theatrical release for In Retreat, or will it go directly to OTT?

MA: We want to show the film to people. We have also begun planning on pitching it to these various platforms, OTTs being one, and to seek wider reach. We are actively working on that process. However, at the moment, the industry situation is quite difficult. Big budget films are not working. They are not selling. Still, we are hopeful that the film can find a place here in India, and we look forward to this possibility.

Dipankar Sarkar (@Dipankar_Tezpur) is a graduate in film editing from the Film and Television Institute of India and currently based in Mumbai. As a freelancer, he frequently contributes to various Indian publications on cinema-related topics.

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