BENGALURU : Usha Rao and Pooja Pandey Tripathi have much to be happy about these days. They acted in a film that was shortlisted in the Lockdown Film Challenge by Shorted, an online platform that showcases short films across India. But the two Bengaluru-based mothers share this feat with their 12-year-old daughters, Stuthi and Satviki, respectively, who directed and shot the film for the two theatre practitioners.
Calling it both an amazing and weird experience, Satviki says, “It was a lot of responsibility on us. It was our first time doing this, and so I was shocked to hear our film was shortlisted.” Agrees her friend and co-director Stuthi, who says, “It was quite the role-reversal for us. Usually our mothers are the ones who shoot us on camera. And here we were directing them.” The youngster also assisted her mother, Rao, in the editing and learned a lot about the technicalities of shooting and post-production.
Titled Alparambh, the film features Rao as a 36-year-old who is too busy to pursue her hobbies -- theatre and wildlife photography. Realisation strikes a bit too late when she is given a reminder of her untimely death. The idea behind the play was simple: To make people aware that it is never too late to start something.
“I was tired of kids, some as young as ninth graders, complaining of not having time for things. We all get the same number of hours a day and it’s up to us to decide how we utilise that,” says Tripathi, who plays Yamraj’s secretary in the nine-minute film. “That was just for improvisation. I can’t play Yamraj with my long hair so I play the secretary who steps in while he is busy dealing with COVID cases,” laughs Tripathi, who has co-founded Being Productions along with Rao.
Shot entirely on a mobile phone, the film took five hours to shoot, which Rao recalls as having a “ball of time.” Agrees Tripathi, who candidly shares that while the youngsters did a good job with the first half of the film, the second did turn out a bit shaky. “But I don’t believe in perfection. And after all, this is how learning happens,” she says, adding that the results will be announced by month-end.