No short cuts for short films

As film-makers in Bollywood get younger, one would expect representations of Indian youth to take on more realistic tones. Instead, we are presented with an increasingly distorted vision of young urban India that is more aspirational than real.

Fresh off the shoot of their short film Avant Garde Pythagoras Sharma, film-makers Ajay Singh and Savio Abraham would like to believe that current changes in Bollywood are opening up avenues for more relatable yet stylised perspectives. Written and directed by Ajay, Avant Garde… tells the story of Pythagoras Sharma, a middle-class boy whose film-making ambitions are in conflict with those already set for him by his mathematician father.

Ajay and Savio first teamed up on a film project while the two were at the University of Sunderland in England. The experience convinced Ajay, who was studying computers, to major in multimedia. While surviving on odd jobs after university, Ajay and Savio, a media production student, began working on short films but realised that to tell Indian stories, they had to return home.

Avant Garde... was written over six months, and six more months were spent getting funds together. However, the support that came from unexpected sources was a pleasant surprise. Every helping hand offered was preceded by the person reading the script that Ajay had forwarded by e-mail. Famed still photographer Toto Nandy helped the duo connect with people and showed them how to cut production costs. Joi Barua agreed to work on the music for the film, and Ashmith Kunder of Dasavatharam fame was only too happy to edit the film.

Veteran actor Benjamin Gilani agreed to play Pythagoras’ father. Nakul Mehta, who acted in Haal E Dil and is a familiar face in TV commercials, plays the protagonist Pythagoras. The rest of the cast are experienced theatre actors, including Sharad Sharma, Joy Fernandes and Chitrak Bandhopadhyay. Savio also credits Shaunak and Hamza, two film-making students, with being indispensable to the making of the film.

Ajay believes their good fortune has everything to do with the script. “What you want to say is important. I think it is this honesty that comes through,” he says. Savio, who handled the production aspect of the film adds, “Everyone involved with the film came on board after reading the script. They have told us that they could relate to the character in one way or another.”

The short film with its surrealist overtones and a Russian roulette-inspired final sequence is currently in post production. Ajay and Savio believe taking their time with the film ensured no room for compromise on any front. The two would like to challenge the middle-class mindset when it comes to looking at film-making as a profession.

“People will often say to you, ‘but what if you don’t make it?’” Ajay says “When someone wants to be an engineer, you don’t expect him to become Bill Gates. Then why this attitude with films?” he adds.