Synopsis
The film revolves around a little street
child who is looking for some food. We see him
walking around the city with his only companion
– ‘the balloon.’ Through his
journey he observes everything that life has to
throw at him. Yet he is a child without any worry
except one basic need - food. The film is about
materialism and how it has started governing our
lives. Our primary needs are taken for granted
and we are caught up in a fictitious world glazed
with glamour and pride. We cannot look through
the tainted glass and even if we can, we pretend
to ignore it and push it into the furthermost
part of our subconscious.
I have always observed the disparity of the haves
and the have-nots in our city of Mumbai. Somewhere
in my subconscious it must have affected to an
extent to which it reproduced itself in the form
of a script. I could play the visuals that you
now see on film over and over again. That's when
I decided this must be it. I wrote the script
as any writer would without taking into consideration
the shortcomings of its execution. A short film
could never draw in a budget to shoot in the locations
that one finally sees in the film. But if I had
considered these factors, I would be compromising
on my creativity.
The cast was selected with great difficulty.
I did not want a nurtured actor though I knew
it would be easy and sensible to use a boy who
was exposed to the medium. Instead I approached
various organizations that work with street children
and then finally found Aman who lives in a chawl
in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai. I had to work very
hard with him. I met him several times to get
him acquainted with me. I also took him to all
the locations so that I could familiarize him
with his surroundings knowing this would help
him. Which it did. The technical crew of some
of the best people in the line was put together
with the kind help and support of Dungarpur films
(where I work) who produced and financed the film.
The film was shot in one shift in the onset of
the monsoon. Thankfully the weather gods were
on my side since I wanted an overcast sky which
existed due to a downpour the previous day.
I wanted a hand held feel to the film so that
it would create a feeling of promptness. Children
are very difficult to work with since they do
not understand what you want out of them. You
need to get to perform by getting them angry or
upset. You need to let the camera role without
them being aware. Also with our schedule where
we covered a lot of locations, it became difficult
for Aman to reproduce the energy in some shots.
However his fatigue only added more character
to the film in my opinion.
Every shoot teaches you something you would not
have learned otherwise. The pressures are different.
One incident that instantly comes to mind is the
scene on marine drive. It was high tide and I
wanted Aman to walk on the parapet. Now he had
done that during rehearsals on other days but
the tide then was low so it did not matter. On
the day of the shoot due to the heavy rainfall
on the previous day Aman refused to walk on the
parapet since the waves were lashing onto the
pavement. It was difficult however we managed
to convince him to walk. There is a very small
portion of it in the final film. Also, since we
were shooting without permission, the camera crew
ran into the van as soon as they saw the police.
That was new for me, since I did not understand
what was happening for 5 minutes until I saw the
police.
There was no video assist on the shoot so when
I saw the rushes I was just excited since it was
my first shoot in film, and as I saw the edit
take shape it was sheer magic, the magic of cinema.
As I began my round of screenings, people seemed
really appreciate Aman’s performance. I
think the rapport I built with him for two weeks
before the shoot really helped in filming him
during his mood swings. When the film was screened
in Marbella, Spain people seemed to appreciate
the overall feel of the film since they felt it
was thought-provoking. They seemed to come out
with a feeling of melancholy which is what one
was trying to portray.
 The
film has won the award for the best short film
at the IDPA Awards in India and it has also won
the best short film at the Marbella Film Festival
in Spain. These awards act as energy booster to
further work on projects that one finds creatively
fulfilling.
I have already started work on another film.
I have no idea what length it is going to be.
However I do know that once it ready I will definitely
make it. I have no idea where I will generate
the revenue from, but I have learned that the
passion is the drive…
Arwa Mamaji graduated from Jaihind College
with a major in Psychology. She has done her masters
in Social Communication Media from Sophia College.
She has made two short films before I Became… |
