KOCHI: In the dead of the night, a young man strides down the empty thoroughfare with a bucket calling out to man’s best friend seen roaming around in groups. Very soon, the camera pans out and zooms in on the dogs rushing to meet him. He is tossing cooked meat to the animals. These are scenes from a documentary titled ‘Charles: The man who feeds stray dogs’ shot by a Class X student.
When it comes to shooting short and documentary films, Sreehari Rajesh is no novice. “This is a hobby which took root when I began shooting small videos of my friends and family using a mobile phone,” said Sreehari. Seeing the world through the lens and capturing the moments made me happy. “However, doing so using a mobile or the digital camera placed a lot of restrictions,” he added.
“But soon I got a professional camera and this helped give wings to various ideas which were jostling for an outlet in my mind. The first video I shot was a short film called ‘Puka: The killing smoke’,” said the youngster. “It was a film that highlighted perils of smoking weed. The video got an official launch at the Kadavanthara child-friendly police station and was used by the police department to train around 5,000 police officers all over the state,” he said.
Sreehari doesn’t cast actors in his documentaries or short films. “These films don’t have any professional actors. They have been shot with the help of friends and family who also enact the characters portrayed. There is no script but only a rough sketch. This helps in making the film more natural than rehearsed,” said Sreehari. The student of Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Eroor, has shot four films till date.
“I came across Charles while shooting the lockdown film called Silent Roads, the idea for which cropped up while I was doing voluntary work with Nanma Foundation,” he said. Seeing Charles taking an effort to feed the dogs made Sreehari want to highlight his selflessness. The teenager shoots his films only during his vacations and will continue to do so alongside his desire to go into a profession which will bring him closer to people.