The idea of Cargo came to director Arati Kadav in 2017 after she worked on pre-production for a film for 6 months before it got shelved. After getting angry at the situation, Kadav started writing another script and after 2-3 months, she developed an idea. Cargo is the sixth screenplay written by Kadav who has earlier made short films like Time Machine. In order to manage the budget of the film, Kadav decided to make a film with minimum location. She wrote a science fiction story set in a spaceship that also tapped into Indian mythology and isses like life and death. Kadav decided to showcase the technology in the film from the 1980s and not very advanced. She said, "I didn't want the tech to be intimidating but more endearing." Kadav cited Argentine short-story writerJorge Luis Borges and sci-fi writer Ted Chiang as her inspirations for the story. She stated: "Eastern sci-fi is more relatable as it matches with Indian culture in its milieu and values." Massey felt the story "abstract and gorgeous", further mentioning: "I had to read the script in detail to what she was saying. It stunned me, and that's when I knew I had to do this film." The film was shot in a spaceship set for 27 days. There were two spaceship sets for both interior and exterior shoots. The film was also shot in outdoors for nearly 10 days. Shooting was finished in November, 2018. The spaceship design was inspired from a bio-mechanism of a gelly fish. The music is composed by Shezan Shaikh.
Reception
Pradeep Menon of Firstpost wrote: "A philosophical tale, a dark comedy, and a tight budget space film all rolled into one, Cargo is one of those oddball movies that will undoubtedly go on to develop a bit of a cult following over time." Tipu Sultan of HuffPost said that Kadav's "true success lies in how she wraps all this up under the garb of a comedy and serves up a film that is devilishly hilarious and ceaselessly entertaining." Eric Kohn of IndieWire noted, "While Cargo stumbles on plot, it excels at vision, and bodes well for the potential of a filmmaker capable of innovating within familiar restraint." Peter Debruge of Variety said that Kadav "shows creativity and a gift for world-building in this unlikely sci-fi fable, which playfully reimagines reincarnation."
