Private Project

An Order from the Sky

An Order from the sky, Aakasathin Utharavu, is a single take narrative of a day in the life of Aakasam, a small-time thief, who hours before dusk, ceremoniously submits the offering, does the ritual to his dearest deity, pleads his usual favor, threaten him of consequences and awaits consent to start his busy day ahead.

An exact adaptation of the eponymous short story by Imayam, a much-celebrated author of Tamil world, it talks about the relevance of rituals, the veracity of God, notion of modernity through struggles of the marginal man and the marginal God in our unjust and partial society.

A true and valid space calling for undivided attention, a slow burner leading to a peace pact and a truce attained between the two warring friends, when the so-called consent is given.

  • Karthik Radhakrishnan
    Director
  • Imayam
    Writer
    Pethavan, Saavu Soru, Selladha Panam, If there is a God.
  • Karthik Radhakrishnan
    Screenplay
  • Maheshwarapandiyan Saravanan
    Producer
  • Baskar R
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Monologue, ChamberFilm
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 14 minutes 9 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 6, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    India, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Tamil
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Karthik Radhakrishnan

Karthik Radhakrishnan, a native of Coimbatore, is a diploma graduate. After a brief role in marketing, he attended to his calling, Cinema. He worked as a co-director in the 2022 movie Kathir. His directorial debut failed to kick off because of the pandemic crisis. It was during the lockdown, Tamil literature reached out to him. Greatly influenced by Imayam and Perumal Murugan’s short stories and novels, his cinematic vision expanded, recounting the earth, its terrain, its people, creed, caste, and customs.
He feels adaptation of Imayam’s short story collection, Aagasathilirundhu Utharavu a necessary step and considers it essential for his debut into Tamil Cinema as a Director.

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Director Statement

Everyone is Aakasam here, both believers and non-believers. We tend to unburden our feelings in a company. Aakasam feels he is a loner, with no one to share and vent off his misgivings in life because of his dwindling profession.
The story as it unfolds, remains tethered to Aakasam, from when he starts the ritual and begins a conversation with his deity, before his terracotta witnesses – the array of horses and hounds, dedicated to the deity, Aakasaveeran – till the consent is given. There never was a moment when the story was away from Aakasam or wanting cutaways, hence I attended to the story’s want for a one-shot feature.