While films like Peddlers, I Am amongst numerous others internationally have attained great success through collaborative efforts for the filmmaking, Placebo is paving a new way for documentary films.
A hybrid documentary dealing with pressures of academic excellence and success amongst some of the best minds of India, Placebo made by award winning filmmaker Abhay Kumar is already making waves. With over 82 collaborators and companies like Book My Show and Adobe stepping in to support the project, this film is truly turning into a cause to support quality cinema.
The film is being made in association with AKFPL, a company set up by noted director Anurag Kashyap and business Partner and producer Guneet Monga.
Speaking about his project director Abhay kumar says “A dream is a powerful thing. It has life changing consequences if it doesn’t come true – and stranger ones when it does. This is a story from the other side of the dream. And what it takes to successfully survive success.’
The film has been actively seeking supporters on the international platforms Indiegogo.com and Indian platform wishberry.in , enabling people to contribute in the making of the project and joining in on the process of change.
Speaking about being involved with the project through her company AKFPL, Guneet Monga says “When Archana and Abhay came to Anurag and me, we instantly fell in love with the subject and in every sense this deserved to be a collaborative film and so we all decided to get everyone involved in the project.”
Adding to this, producer of Placebo, Archana Phadke says “The teaser we opened to the public in February of 2013 represents what we can do with a small team and a very limited budget. I believe that Placebo is a story that has to be told. Regardless of its setting it is everyone’s story. We want to make the best possible film we can. AKFPL has come onboard as they share our belief. If people like our work and believe in what we are trying to make, they could join in and make it happen”
Currently raising funds for post production, this documentary is all set to change the way independent cinema has been perceived and received in India.
What is Placebo: After witnessing an act of brutal violence, a filmmaker goes undercover in one of the greatest educational institutes of India to investigate the rising incidents of violence amongst some of the best minds in the nation. Four students agree to be filmed for a year as a part of this investigative experiment.
What follows is a dark yet fascinating journey through the celebrated hallways of excellence, carved by ambition and success- and those who pass through it must battle monsters; both within and without. What the world outside sees as success is only a grand start to the battle which lies ahead.
As the camera follows them over a vast and varied landscape (from deep within the forests of the Parvati Valley to the cold desert plains of ladakh) and probes into the twisted mindscape, a new reality begins to manifest.
What seemingly starts as a controlled, guided experiment becomes a ride down a rabbit hole where reality is an infection. In that world… what could be a cure?
Placebo is a hybrid documentary born out of this journey.
