It’s no big secret that any non-commercial film finds it very difficult to find a release in Bollywood. This in spite of a probable known director behind it. Rockstar’s Imtiaz Ali and king of dark films, Anurag Kashyap showcased their hitherto unreleased short films to the aspiring film-makers at Wassup Andheri recently. The film-making workshop had a competition wherein the contestants had to create a short film based on the theme: The Girl and The Auto Rickshaw. The winner gets to assist these two ace directors in their forthcoming projects.
It was during this workshop, that they both screened Pramod Bhai and Window Seat In Kashmir – two great short films. Window Seat In Kashmir, directed by Imtiaz is about a shikarawala from Kashmir. “I shot this film nine months ago. I am involved with a dotcom that showcases short films and I made this film for them. Since I love showcasing travel in my films, I landed in Kashmir and shot with real people out there,” he said adding, “Such films give me an opportunity to work on a short format involving a small unit without the excessive labor of a full-length feature film.”
Anurag Kashyap’s Pramod Bhai on the other hand is a funny tale of a kid called Chand. Chand stays in a Mumbai boys’ remand home and is extremely talkative. It’s a very lighthearted take at the lives of kids like Chand in such homes. Never the one to mince words, Anurag said, “I had made this film as a part of Angan Trust that works with remand home children. We were trying to make a film on various such short stories about children. This film has been stuck with Sahara for almost five years. I don’t know why they have been sitting on it since long,”
We hope that now with the buzz these two shorts have created, we would finally get to view the releases.
