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Young filmmakers, rich in ideas but poor in funds, have found a worthy ally in the Internet. And there's more than money on offer. Log in with AVINASH KALLA.
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A still from 'The Little Terrorist'.
THE MUCH-TALKED about Little Terrorist is all of 15 minutes and iscontesting for the Best Short Film Award at the glittering Oscars this year. Raghu Romeo, another 99-minute film, to its credit has a National Award. These movies may be poles apart in terms of treatment but it's the drama behind the camera that places them in a segment less talked about.
It's the Internet that has made the dreams of themakers of these films become an acclaimed reality.
Internet for making a film? If you are amazed let's hear straight from the horses' mouth.
Capital help
"When the capital fundedby the National Film and Development Corporation and my savings fell short by a couple of million rupees I tried desperate measures to arrange for the finances. In one such attempt, I started writing mails to friends and others asking to buy shares in my movie of Rs.10,000 each," says Rajat Kapoor, the maker of Raghu Romeo, the film which may have not clicked at the box office but won acclaim in a string of film festivals across the world. Kapoor adds once the buzz spread and his interviews were posted on Rediff.com and Bombay Times featured him, the mails started flooding in. "I would get around 60 mails a day and people would write to help me in whichever way they could. Some asked to make a portal, write lyrics act without remuneration and what not. Of course, there were some who bought shares in Raghu Romeo".
Sounds great, and this in itself sounds like a plot for one of the Bollywood potboilers. However, questions are being raised about the risk involved in such a venture. "It sounds wonderful but this could be a very risky proposition, as there are no certain variables. Going about in an unorganised way could lead to alot of hurdles on the way," opines young director Girish Acharya, who directed Waheeda Rehman's comeback movie Brides Wanted.
Professional solutions
To this uncertainty Ashvin Kumar has an answer. "There are portals in the U.K. that support filmmakers with resources by linking them with the right-minded people who are ready to be a part of their endeavour."
Being aware of this, in fact, he posted his idea of Little Terrorist on one such portal, www.shootingpeople.org asking for crew assistance while stating clearly that he is not in a state to provide those who will work with him, the luxuries of air fair and stay. "The advertisement said I could pay people, couldn't pay for airfare but this was the script and if people wanted they could come and work on the film."
REWARD TIME: Rajat Kapoor receiving the National Award for the Best Hindi Feature Film from the President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Photo: Sandeep Saxena.
What followed took Ashvin by surprise as around 15 people turned up. "These were trained professionals. Thisgave me a luxury of selecting my crew." Tells Ashvin.
It all happened at a fast pace. Ashvin's Little Terrorist right from the conceptualisation to production took around four months and the shooting was wrapped in mere five days.
So is this the beginning of a new chapter in Bollywood? "Well if such a thing can be worked out it would be amazing. It will definitely be a boon for many creative minds, whohave no clue about how to go about a project. It will put an end to the hassles of going through the `painstaking chains' of intermediates."
And things are indeed looking bright as Ashvin reveals there are talks of opening an Indian chapter of shootingpeople.org that helped him make Little Terrorist. "They have asked me to work on the Indian chapter and I am seriously looking into the areas that need to be worked out to make it going in India."
So who knows that knowingly or unknowingly, a new script is about to being written in Indian cinema.
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