This installment of the All Lights India International Film Festival (ALIFF), currently underway at Cinepolis Kochi, will set the stage for the debut of a young director who believes cinema is about pushing the limits that is imposed upon you.
Bharat Chand’s ‘Walking Mind’ is a docudrama that was made about and with the participation of patients afflicted with Osteogeneis Imperfecta or brittle bones syndrome. “Calling them patients will be a disservice to them as it has a negative ring to it,” says the 23-year-old director.
“These people have accepted the reality about their health. Having spend quite a lot of time with them, I know they have a consciousness that goes beyond that of the ordinary people.” It is this realm of consciousness that Bharat tries to hold the mirror against in his maiden cinematic attempt.
Bharat had been close to many people with the disease through his aunt Latha Nair, who heads Amritavarshini, the only organisation to speacialise in the care for brittle bones patients in the country.
“The fact that they cannot venture out like the rest of us was what affected me. I have seen people who have been confined to their homes for more than three decades,” says a concerned Bharat.
Initially setting out to do a documentary, Bharat changed course and decided upon the format of docudrama to make space for the evocative stories of survival and as an outlet for his own creativity. True to his convictions on going beyond the tried and tested, the first time director has travelled to 26 places, used location sound recording and employed graphics. “Graphics was used to portray the protagonists’ inner worlds and for the scenes were we show heaven and hell (as part of a story in the movie),” says the director.
‘Walking Mind’, which was made in 20 days, is narrated by Bharat’s brother and actor Murali Chand and is produced by his father J Saratchandran Nair. The music is composed by Dhruv Seshadri, an IAS officer from Tamil Nadu. The movie will be screened at Cinepolis at 4.00 pm on Tuesday.