Watching street children selling newspapers made 16-year-old Kishan Shrikanth realise that these children can be educated if they were motivated to work hard. So he took up the responsibility of becoming a role-model to inspire other students and youngsters.
He went on to direct a Kannada film, 'Care of Footpath', at the age of nine, becoming the youngest director of a feature film in 2006 and holds a Guinness World Record. “It is about a young boy who wants to study and become successful in life, but has to cross many hurdles before achieving it. The story I wrote for this film, was inspired by true incidents in the lives of people like APJ Abdul Kalam, Thomas Alva Edison, Michael Farady and others,” explains Shrikanth.
He is now pursuing his MA in multimedia and animation from Karnataka State Open University. Says Kishan, “I am the first person in the state to be given age relaxation. I had to convince people that I am technically sound and write tests to prove i can take up the master’s programme at the age of 16.” He won 11 international awards for his first film and also won India’s Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal) award given by the president of India. He was also featured in Oprah Winfrey among the top 15 genius children in the world.
He studies when he has some free time and takes his books to the sets. All this has paid off, with the support of his parents as he scores more than 90 per cent in his exams. “In the near future, I want to pursue research on holography and optical illusions,” says Kishan.
— kaviya@newindianexpress.com