BREVITY BANK
The Debut District
Collector Bro turns to cinema via Cannes Film Festival
T
HE bureaucracy is considered to be a staid occupation that rarely inspires people to think out of the box . But
Prashant N . is not your usual babu .
The 2007-batch IAS officer is also a writer , director and actor . He made his ‘ double debut ’ with his two short Malyalam films at Cannes this year . His directorial venture , Daivakanam , was screened at Cannes along with Who , where he gave glimpses of his histrionics . “ It was a proud moment for me ,” says the 37-year-old
officer who has also co-scripted with director Anil Radhakrishnan for a Malyalam film , Diwanjimoola Grandprix . “ It was a big morale booster to get entries in the competition section at such a big platform . About 90 per cent of applications are rejected there .”
The 15-minute-long Daivakanam depicts the struggle of mankind to cope with the knowledge of the future while Ajay Devaloka ’ s Who is a murder mystery .
Prashant ( far right in pic ) says that he initially wanted to direct a feature film but , on the advice of some filmmaker friends , he decided to try a short movie first . At present the secretary to the Union tourism minister , Prashant steals time to pursue his passion for cinema , which was ignited when he saw Mani Ratnam ’ s Roja way back in 1992 .
Prashant shot to fame when , as distict collector of Kozhikode ( 2015-17 ), he spearheaded a campaign called ‘ Compassionate Kozhikode ’ on social media which earned him a Facebook following of more than 2.5 lakh , besides a moniker of “ Collector Bro ” and the Outlook Social Media ( OSM ) award in 2016 . O
— Giridhar Jha ence was reflected on the screen . After the screening , she wanted to get photographed with me — an Indian director who has told an Indian story and yet it ’ s her story . That ’ s the beauty of film festivals . They make you realise that human conditions are universal .”
Kapadia too talks about the universality of dilemmas that makes locally made films reach out at festivals . “ Like any art form , we have certain preoccupations and questions that we need to address through our work . It ’ s the same questions again and again and they never seem to get resolved ,” she says . “ I was fortunate that the film was selected at Cannes because that helped it get a much larger audience than I had ever expected . But short films are getting a lot of attention online . Hopefully , even theatres might one day get interested in showing a short before a feature ! That ’ d be quite great .”
WHILE festivals remain the big draw for short films , the online space is a thriving platform too . Companies such as Large Short Films , Pocket films and HumaraMovies are producing shorts as well as developing a community of sorts by organising contests . They are putting many films out there and ensuring excellent reach for them through YouTube and social media . “ We have over 4,50,000 subscribers and 80 per cent of the viewership is organic ,” says Pallavi Rohatgi , co-founder of HumaraMovies . com . We are consistently looking for good acting talent and fresh storytellers . We are completely agnostic to genre — horror , suspense , romance etc .
The only criterion is the strength of the plot .” Sounds good until now but , “ despite 155 million views , we don ’ t really make money ,” adds Pallavi . “ Nobody ’ s making money right now , but one looks at the bigger picture of identifying and understanding fresh talent .” Their budget started with a modest Rs 10,000 and can now go upto Rs 5 lakh in some cases . HumaraMovies also organised a mentoring programme where budding directors made short films under guidance of established filmmakers such as Imtiaz Ali , Zoya Akhtar and Sriram Raghavan .
Then there are dedicated film buffs like Cyrus Dastur who have been making the good old cinema experience possible for short film enthusiasts . “ We were the first
“ The format frees you from the commercial constraints . You can stick to your ideas of pure cinema ,” says director Ajitpal Singh . ones to start a film club for short films . Now we are the biggest in Asia with presence in 15 Indian cities . We reach out to around 15,000 people on a monthly basis ,” says Dastur , founder of Shamiana Short film Club , which showcases award-winning and acclaimed films . “ Earlier it was difficult to find enough films . Now there are too many . It ’ s saturated and needs to evolve . Not all films are good .”
And it isn ’ t easy to filter through YouTube to identify the best , unless you go by festival recommendations and awards . It is easy to understand the interest of the strugglers . A short film is still a complete film and is the best way to showcase your talent . While many may be below par , actors keep at it in the hope of getting noticed . Actor Naveen Kasturia says his short , Cafe Interior Night , with Naseerudin Shah provided him the chance to act in a feature film — Hope Aur Hum , again with Shah .
The budgets may be as low as Rs . 20,000 to make a 5-minute short . Though Pallavi doesn ’ t keep track of the exact numbers , they receive four to five proposals every day to produce short films . That just shows how much young and struggling filmmakers are keen to make their mark with an award-winning short .
The upsurge in digital platforms , free internet on mobile screens and the inc reasingly deficient attention span of audiences , all make a strong case for the short film . And as long as filmmakers continue to put money in the medium without exp ecting profits , this haiku of cinema will continue to create sharp , beautiful memories for all . O
64 OUTLOOK 18 June 2018