A man wearing a yellow, hand-knitted muffler has a firm grip on a small box as he sits in a tractor marching across the misty fields of Punjab. Along the vast, lush green landscape, he sees a factory standing strong. Right in its opening frames, filmmaker duo, Jasmine Kaur Roy and Avinash Roy establish a contrast of opposing worlds in their Punjabi short, Khooh Waala Ghar (Room at the farm), as the man, Nihal, a small farmer, is driven to desperation and debt and left with no choice other than selling his ancestral farm land to make way for a factory.

“This is a reality everywhere now and not just of Punjab. We are losing greenery each day. At one point of time, it was difficult to find a factory in the middle of the farm. But now they are seen everywhere and most of them are factories of random things which are not even connected to farming. All of it is happening due to development but at what cost?” says Jasmine ahead of the film’s showcase at the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) later this week, where it is also nominated for Best Short (Narrative).

Jasmine and Avinash were observing these changing realities for farmers and thought of incorporating the concerns in the story. Interestingly, the initial idea for the central character in the film came from a documentary which they were working on some years ago. While speaking to people migrating abroad from Punjab, they spoke to a young farmer, who was adamant to stay back and continue farming. “That documentary never got made but the young farmer stayed with us for how deeply connected he was with his roots and not wanting to move away from his home. That became the seed of the idea for Khooh Wala Ghar,” explains Avinash.

The social concerns, however, form the subtext of the film, which largely focuses on the relationship between Nihal and his wife, who tries to convince him to come home as he continues living in seclusion in the dilapidated room in the farm. There’s a growing tenderness between the two, which forms a hopeful fragment in the film. Their innocent bond has been marred by a range of adversities that the family is forced to face in the wake of shifting socio-economic conditions around. Jasmine and Avinash take a subtler approach to highlight these stark realities, often by just juxtaposing images of a factory or having fainter mentions of it through dialogue. The two gravitate towards this restrained kind of visual design.

“We like to work with minimalism, both in our images and dialogue. We feel that the more we leave things unsaid and speak visually to the audience, the better impact it will have on them,” says Jasmine. The duo has also worked on some projects where the messaging was more direct. Avinash says he doesn’t find anything wrong with that approach. “But when we want to make a creative piece and function in our own way, we tend to work more with subtlety. All of our team members share the same sensibility as well which finally comes together in our work,” says Avinash.

Alumnis of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Avinash and Jasmine have made multiple shorts over the years. Their graduation film, Saanjh won the National Film Award and opened in the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India in 2004. Since then, they are known for bringing unheard voices to the forefront through their work, like in the National Award winning documentary, Amoli (2018).

“We love making shorts as it is a beautiful medium where you can say so much in so little time. But it is tricky to make them in India as there’s no commercial viability. We made Khooh Wala Ghar with a professional camera with the right kind of budget but we knew from the onset that there’s going to be no commercial return,” says Avinash while also reflecting on the support they got along the way.

“Lot of people come on board when they see the rough cut. Like in our case, we did the post-production and colour correction at Red Chillies. People come to support once we have made the film and that’s what keeps us going,” says Avinash.

The two are currently in the process of working on a feature film which is steeped in the similar minimalistic visual landscape. “It is a film called Myna’s Lullaby, which is inspired by an ancient folktale and we are merging it with contemporary times, reflecting on questions on patriarchy and women issues. We are planning to shoot it later this year with the same team,” concludes Jasmine.