Last Train to Mahakali

Last Train to Mahakali is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language thriller film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap. It was made for the Star Plus television series Star Bestsellers and was first telecast in 1999. The film won the Special Jury Award at the 8th Annual Star Screen Awards.[1] In 2005, the film was one of the four short films screened at an event organized by Films Anonymous at Hyderabad.[2]

Last Train to Mahakali
Directed byAnurag Kashyap
Produced byManish Tiwari
Written byAnurag Kashyap
StarringKay Kay Menon
Nivedita Bhattacharya
Vijay Maurya
Lovleen Mishra
Shrivallabh Vyas
Music byShaarang Dev
CinematographyNatarajan Subramaniam ("Natty")
Edited byAarti Bajaj
Release date
1999
Running time
45 min.
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
BudgetINR 200,000

The film tells the story of a doctor on death row who claims to have discovered a permanent cure for any virus-based disease and stars Kay Kay Menon and Nivedita Bhattacharya.

Production

Anurag Kashyap made Last Train to Mahakali in a moment of disenchantment. Kashyap's brother – Abhinav – was doing a television show and he used Kashyap's name to promote it. He advised Kashyap to contact television channel Star Plus and ask them for work. Kashyap followed the advice and narrated a story to the channel.[3] Those days (1999) Plus was doing a series – Star Bestsellers – which showcased the work of young-and-upcoming writers and directors. Kashyap was a brand because he had written the scripts for three Ramgopal Varma films including the blockbuster Satya. So they agreed immediately to the idea. Kashyap was to make a short film for Bestsellers.

Kashyap contacted cinematographer Natarajan (Natty); he had liked Natty's work in the music videos of band Euphoria. And they shot the entire film over a period of three-four days. The shooting inside a train was done using a DV camera that Kashyap borrowed from a friend who was working as a producer at MTV, after promising him a role in the film.[3]

Reception

The film was aired on Star Plus and was well received by the audience; the shooting style, more than the story, was appreciated.[3] It won the Special Jury Award at the 8th Annual Star Screen Awards.[1]

References
  1. 8th Annual Asian Paints STAR SCREEN Weekly Awards Archived 24 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Short films show
  3. The 'Pahli Seedi' Anurag Kashyap interview Excerpts from an interview (in Hindi) conducted by Pravesh Bhardwaj and Ajay Brahmatmaj
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