Hygiene- something that we all know, but don’t practice outside of homes. So these young amateur directors have come up this video message to remind the viewers.
A black plastic garbage bag flies in the air, misses the dump and lands on the road, strewing trash everywhere. A chirpy voice keeps time with the beat of a rap song, describing ‘Kachrapur’. The screen comes alive with pint-sized figures in oversized sunglasses and bright shirts, nodding their heads to the music, break dancing atop rickshaws and walls. Welcome to the imaginary city of Kachrapur, jahan gandagi raheti hai door door (where garbage is everywhere) — except that it is not an imaginary city after all.
It is every city, in every state in the country. Filthy surroundings are a grim reality for the children at Saidpur slum in Bihar’s Patna. Instead of ignoring the problem, 35-40 children decided to script, act in and direct a video to spread the message of sanitation. The hip-hop video was made with the assistance of Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), and the children were mentored by young directors from Asian Centre for Entertainment Education (ACEE)-Third Eye studios. This is the first time that rural and economically disadvantaged children were part of CFSI’s Little Director’s programme that gives young children a chance to be part of a short film.
For gangly Amit Raj, the video was an opportunity to channel his inner Salman Khan. “I have always wanted to act and direct. We worked on the song for five days. Khoob masti kari (we had a lot of fun),” the 13-year-old says. Amit plans to direct his own films in the future and the Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Dangal’ is a personal favourite.
The idea and lyrics of the song came from the children, says mentor Aaron Edwards, who is a director with ACEE. “With very little help from adults, the children wrote the lyrics, made the shot break-up, prepared props and directed the song over five days,” he says. The children watched rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh‘s videos to understand hip-hop.
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Besides Kachrapur, four other films were made as part of the project with children between 7 and 16 years of age. ‘Master Ki Class’, for instance, was shot in the district of Begusarai, Bihar, infamous for Naxal attacks. Mentor Azeemuddin Sayeed says they shot barely a kilometre from what was described as Naxal territory. “The families live in fear. They have a simple life and the children have limited access to phones or TV. But they seem so eager to learn,” he says.
‘Master Ki Class’ shows how an irate teacher is caught by his students relieving himself in public despite giving them lectures on cleanliness. The teacher is a tobacco-chewing, bad-tempered man who keeps his students on their toes. Twenty-five year old Shashikant Kumar, who plays the master, is an actor and teaches theatre in the village. He says the character was based on a real teacher in the neighbourhood school. “The children cast me and gave me these mannerisms to copy. I just followed the instructions,” he says in mock seriousness.
The crew was also surprised at how quickly children picked up technical skills such as sound recording and editing. “The children were so enthusiastic not just about acting but also sharing their stories, arranging the costumes, editing and doing odd jobs on the set,” Denver Fernandes, another mentor, says.
All the films on sanitation and child marriage have been inspired by real-life incidents. In the first phase, the project covered four districts of Bihar — Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Nawada and Patna, while the second phase is underway with films being shot in Rajasthan.
Shooting with the children was an eye-opening experience says Vinta Nanda, ACEE’s founder. “We realised that we are wasting our time in cities. We need to go to places like Begusarai where stories are being lived,” she says.
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