There was a time when many a media house were looking for citizen journalists, a concept that immensely appealed to the large mass of youngsters. ‘Candle Camera’, Appu Bhattathiri’s 11-minute short film, is woven around this premise. Its protagonist played by Sunny Wayne is smitten by the bug and is on the lookout for a ‘scoop’. “We wanted a media-related theme and it struck to us as quite intriguing,” says Appu.
‘Candle Camera’ opens with its nameless hero lying on the hospital bed and recounting how he ended up there. “The film involves a situation every youth goes through before taking the first step towards a definite career. There are aspirants who think they will change the world. But some of them get caught in this utopian fantasy. The character in the film thinks if he does a sting operation to expose corruption it will immediately end,” he adds. After much research the hero decides to pursue another story. He sets off on a fishing boat with the hope of coming back with something ‘big’. On the trip he gets hit by a terrible bout of seasickness and returns with nothing on his camera.
All his adventures are chronicled with a pinch of humour and even the climax comes coated in satire. The director says the title is a term derived from the concept of candid camera. “Instead of implying a hidden eye ‘Candle Camera’ points lighting up something. In the film the hero tries to provide some information to the people,” he says.
There is a lot of visual effects that make a solid portion of the narrative and Appu says it’s mainly because of his technical background. “It took around three months for us to complete the film and since its release on YouTube the response has been fabulous,” he adds.