BENGALURU:A n enthusiastic writer and assistant director witnesses a murder and is curious to know if a murderer can kill a person he likes.“He challenges the criminal to spend some time with him. If he begins to like him and is unable to kill him at the end of it, the protagonist wins. Should he lose, he pledges his girlfriend’s life in return,” says Vijay Mohan, writer and director of the short film Manduka.
The crew includes well-known technicians from the Kannada film industry and actor Hitha Chandrashekar. Harshil Koushik, who plays one of the characters in Manduka,says, “We showed the script to some industry professionals who showed interest. We have some of the most experienced technicians on board including, Srikanth, the editor of Ugramm, currently working on KGF. Music director Judah Sandy (from Operation Alamelamma fame) is also on board.”
The 19-minute film will be released on YouTube in September, although the date has not been finalised. “If the audience likes the story, we plan to make a feature film out of it. This is basically a pitch video. Most short filmmakers make pitch videos for the sake of a film. They lose out on the idea of the short story itself. But I have made sure that this does not happen in our case,” says Vijay.
The aspirants are hopeful that the short film will create the right noises in the industry, and will be picked up by producers. Is there an audience for Kannada short films right now? “It’s still in an amateur stage. The awareness among people on Kannada short films is pretty low right now. But things are changing. If mainstream actors support short films, it will help us reach a larger audience. The public does not understand that this can be an industry in itself,” he says, further adding, “We are banking on social media to get viewers but even that is a limited platform. We are hoping to get a break with this film, especially since well-known actors are on board.”