Camera rolling with the punches! How the Dynamic Duo brought a Fighter’s Life Onscreen.
Sahis Sathar describes how he was in a creative numb after shooting a slew of travel videos and was yearning to try something new, something with a story element to it. That is when he came to know about Sadiq's (Pro Fighter) compelling tale. Sadiq is a porter working in the famed Palayam market of Kozhikode who has also represented India in the Muay Thai Pro Fight World Championship which took place in Thailand in the year 2015. This story of raw grit, sweat, blood, and tears a fighter simply fit the bill for a Netflix-style documentary. A real knockout story in Sahis Sathar's words.
Basim Arahman, his long-time friend and fellow cinephile was also on board after hearing the story and soon the dynamic duo set about capturing this amazing story on camera. The first days of shoot were fight sequences shot in Sadiq's place of training. Shooting, however, had its own set of tough challenges and did not pan the way they sought.
Things took a turn for the worse when the pandemic struck, and shooting came to a standstill for 7-8 months. It almost went to the point where they thought that the project had to be dropped, but a few weeks after they decided to not give up and go ahead with shooting the remaining interview and sequences as this was a story of a fighter that needed telling. Thus Sadiq’s story moved to post-production.
Sponsors were hard to come especially in the time of Covid-19, but they never let this ever get translated into a compromise in quality as they understood the gravity of the story and what it means to tell it.
Both the crew and our protagonist deserve credit for piecing out this work despite the issues they had to face. You can say they delivered an uppercut to the problems in their way, pun intended. The entire crew can be condensed into Sahis and Basim. When Sahis is behind the camera, Basim is on lighting and vice versa. They had other crew-mates join them in their corner for a few days to help with the shoot at times.
The obvious passion and love for their craft are evident in their work but it is their grit to keep moving forward with their story just like the main character in their story “Sadiq” a common man’s testament to move past the challenges and represent a whole nation. Yet we simply do not hear these tales. We must applaud and support to see more of their talents in the cinematic arena and to keep hearing such inspiring tales.
Sahis Sathar is currently based in Calicut, working as a video producer in the web department of MediaOne TV. He has been passionate about photography, video editing, visual effects, and cinema since childhood. Basim Arahman is based in Calicut and is working as an Assistant Editor for the upcoming Nivin Pauly starrer 'Padavettu' and is a staunch cinephile. Follow them up on Litebox to keep hearing more of such amazing tales.
Keywords:
India, Kerala, martial arts, Muaythai, video, documentary, Fighter's Life, Sahis Sathar, Sadiq, Muay Thai Pro Fight World Championship,