BENGALURU: Every Bengalurean who has taken a ride in the Metro has heard a soothing female voice, guiding them to the next station. While the voice keeps the riders grounded in their travels every day, many might not know it belongs to the popular Kannada TV presenter, Aparna Vastarey. Vastarey’s story, Voice of Namma Metro, will be one of the three inspiring city stories in the upcoming docuseries, HomeGrown, by Faces of Bengaluru (FoB), a city-based media house.
The other two documentaries The Willow Doctor and Reviving Legends, will feature the bat repairer, Ram Bhandari, and the rare vintage bike mechanics, Fairoz and Moosa Khan, respectively. The docuseries, produced in association with FUJI film and ‘B·LORE’ (a series featuring stories from the city) will be released on FoB’s YouTube channel around mid-November.
Vikas Badiger, founder of FoB says, “We wanted to choose whoever had these niche skill sets and went on to make a career out of it.” Badiger, who started FoB in 2016, had decided to shift full-time to making documentary films in 2020, which is when he connected with Sharan GC and Venu Gopal, the directors of the other two documentaries of HomeGrown. “Human interest stories are something that I have always loved to convey to people and that was the intention behind FoB as well. The city itself is very close to my heart. What we do on a daily basis is chaotic yet something that not a lot of cities can do,” says Badiger.
Sharing his thought process for the series, Badiger says they wanted to tell stories of individuals who have a unique cultural impact. “One voice that someone gave in 2011 is being used across the city, with millions of people listening to it to get to know the directions; the cultural impact that these people have is huge. Through three such stories, we wanted to convey that even if you are good at one skill, no matter how niche, you can lead a life here in Bengaluru.” For Badiger, who is also the executive producer of the docuseries, the biggest challenge was the time each story demanded despite the short duration. “It took time for them to open up to us and trust us with their story.”
Sharan GC, who will be debuting as a director with the documentary Reviving Legends, says, “I have loved vintage motorcycles from my childhood days. My passion for bikes gave me the capability to give the film more depth while shooting.” Venu Gopal, director of The Willow Doctor has been involved in multiple projects with FoB. Being a cricket enthusiast, Venu Gopal says, “When I heard his story, I felt it had to be told. Even after having repaired bats of legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, his simplicity was what made me love the story even more.”