16-year-old filmmaker Mauraya Sharma unravels the mysterious world of human desire

Sixteen-year-old filmmaker Mauraya Sharma explores whether one should embrace or shrug off desires society considers bold or crass
Stills from Unbinding, a short film by Mauraya Sharma.
Stills from Unbinding, a short film by Mauraya Sharma.

Mauraya Sharma is on a holiday in Singapore, but his mind is racing to come back home to Delhi. His fingers are itching to turn the pages of a new book, feel the emotions of a new film or perhaps, revise his academic lessons. Sharma is not your usual 16-year-old. When boys his age are drowning themselves in classwork, Sharma has set up his production house called Painting Tongue Productions for his directorial endeavours. And his latest film, Unbinding, is what made us curious.

Sharma says that the seeds of direction were sown when his parents took him to watch the play Yakshagana, few years ago. He noticed every element that went into the making of it, and increasingly became interested in films.

All that interest and enthusiasm led to a creative outpouring via Unbinding, a film about a women’s preternatural romance with a century-old banyan tree.

Cryptic at first, it reveals the story of a married woman who falls out of love with her husband and visits a banyan tree to pray for peace, only to find that she is unstoppably attracted to it.

“The film is non-conformist. At the heart of it, it showcases the raw emotion of desire and how it always comes laced with judgement. Even the slightest aberration is seen as abnormal. Isolation soon follows. Not how things should be though,” observes Sharma.

Growing up, he wasn’t immune to condemnatory remarks. School can be hard for those who stand out and Sharma experienced it firsthand.

“The first time I faced causticity was when, as a young boy, I used to stitch dresses for my dolls and play with them. Being exposed to so much criticism from peers for playing with what’s considered ‘toys for girls’ made me look at the concept of desire closely and how its expression comes with disapproval. Unbinding, therefore, looks at the desire to be desireless. But even in that there’s desire. So what is the solution, embrace it rather than shrug it? Perhaps yes.”

This aspect crops up symbolically through the climax showing the need to break away from societal patterns and stereotypes. People will talk no matter what you do, but it’s important to step out and find yourself and stay connected with it. That’s the foundation on which Sharma’s creative pursuits, including this film, are built.

Unbinding in the limelight

The film has been nominated at seven international film festivals and has won three awards already. It is a semi-finalist at the First Glance festival, Philadelphia, and the official selection at South Film and Arts Academy, Chile, National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY), Seattle and New Jersey International Film Festival.

Mauraya Sharma: Quick facts

Sharma studies at Pathways World School, Aravalli, Gurugram. He was recently accorded the Chairman’s award (the highest honour at Pathways). He’s a Grade 4 pianist from Trinity College of London. Now he’s working on a large sculptural installation based on the duality of home. A juxtaposition between the inside and the outside. Our perception and reality.

(Unbinding is on vimeo.com)

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com