Review for ‘‘Gaganachari’’ Arun Chandu

''Gaganachari'' by Arun Chandu is a technically outstanding sci-fi feature film that does not take itself too seriously by being also a mockumentary. The story focuses on the lives of three bachelors who reside in an apocalypse bunker whose lives get turned upside down when a visitor from a far off planet enters their domicile.

Hiding a lot of symbolism and metaphors this original script provides a lot of material and information to work with. Our characters feel complicated with a lot of ethical decisions going through their hands. As most of this project is filmed in one location, fast, snappy and clever dialogues help showcasing a plethora of emotions.

Director Arun Chandu takes a handful of risks by mixing multimedia art styles for narrative purposes. This caught us by surprise in many instances as animation would interrupt the ongoing events to showcase a different aspect. The cinematography and production design was overall beautiful as for the entirety of the film the locations were presented beautifully, matching the sci-fi aesthetic.

Considering ''Gaganachari'' is just under 2 hours, in the second half of the film we are treated to some minor pacing and structural issues as scenes tend to get repetitive without owning up to the explosive pace that was introduced in the beginning.

The actors gave playful and emotional performances. This makes clear that the whole cast was behind the script. The continuous rehearsals paid off.

Lastly we want to congratulate the whole crew and give a special shout out to the sound mastering team that really owned up their genre with some of the best sound, music and effects choices we have ever witnessed on AIMAFF. We are on the edge of our seat to see what's next from this talented collective.