Posts Tagged ‘Geetanjali Rao’

As part of the campaign “India is a visual journey”, five filmmakers were commissioned to make five short films. You must have seen the promos of the shorts. Now all the films are online. Do watch and vote for your favourite

1. Hidden Cricket by Shlok Sharma

About the film – A country that is divided in the name of religion, state, language, caste, economy, profession and even god… breathes together, stands together in the name of CRICKET!

A sport that defines the country. Cricket is in our blood and rules our hearts. A synonym to passion — cricket redefines enthusiasm, craze, zeal and excitement. We are a nation that loves cricket, lives cricket, beyond conventions and beyond rules, from breaking boundaries to breathtaking highs, a million cheers and a zillion sighs, such is the madness, such is the passion to play it anywhere, any day, all the time, all the way. Cricket is our way of life!

2. The Epiphany by Neeraj Ghaywan

About the film – After their college reunion in Pune, a divorced couple is forced to take a ride together to Mumbai. As they meet an old woman on the highway in desperate need of help, their disparate sense of morality, culture and class creates friction, scraping the wounds of past that they thought was long gone. Some journeys may not take you anywhere, but you do move on.

3. Moi Marjani by Anubhuti Kashyap

About the film – A spirited independent single mother struggles on a daily basis to provide a comfortable life to her son and herself. She runs a small Internet cafe in Patiala, Punjab for a living, and is an Internet user herself. The film highlights a phase in her life when love comes knocking on her door. If only its timing was right!

4. Geek Out by Vasan Bala

About the film – The dual lives we lead, that virtual alter ego we all have nurtured and empowered, The Indian “Geek” today is no longer that lad who sat in a corner. He could be that carefully framed pic on Instagram to that deadly opinionated Twitter handle or maybe that pop philosophy spitting Facebook page or that revolutionary blog that was created to change the world or just plain drowned into the Audio-Visual black hole “You-Tube”. Day dreaming now has a new address, the world wide web. Dream on ! May the force be with the Geek!

5. Chai by Geentanjali Rao

About the film – The film is a sequence of montages that shows four different people making tea in a tea shop. A ten year old boy selling tea in Bombay at the Gateway Of India, An 18 year old girl with her tea shop in a mid level town, A 19 year old Kashmiri lad in a Barrista and An 80 year old man’s tea shop in a busy Kerala bus stand.

The film is a view of rapid change that India is going through and what it means to those people whose faces we never notice as we go along sipping our cup of tea everyday. Tea like the people of India changes with every language, culture, climate yet serves the same purpose everywhere always. A constant in a flux.

– And do VOTE for your favourite short. You can vote for as many shorts as you like, there’s no limit.

Amole Gupte, the writer and creative director of Taare Zameen Par, is ready with his directorial debut titled Stanley Ka Dabba. The film is distributed by Fox Star India. Amole has not only written and directed it but has also composed one of the songs, written the lyrics and has acted in it. It also stars Divya Dutta and Divya Jagdale.

Here’s the first trailer of the film…

And here’s the official synopsis..

Imagine this boy in your mind’s eye. He arrives in school much before any of his classmates to drum away his blues on empty benches. He stuffs himself with water instead of the nutritious food that his schoolmates relish during the lunch break. He covers up for his lack of social rank with the finesse of the most seasoned diplomat. Who is this child? What is he like? Why is he anything like he is? Wouldn’t you like to know? Meet Stanley, the protagonist of the much awaited ‘Stanley Ka Dabba

‘Stanley Ka Dabba’ is the latest offering from the insightful writer-director, Amole Gupte that throws light on the everyday life of a school going child. The character, Stanley, tugs at your heartstrings with his indomitable spirit, while warding off the hostile world he is surrounded by at all times, everywhere. The film reveals how this is child-soldier, rises above his choking real life situation on the way setting a template for all whiners to learn from, even emulate.

Like most others his ilk, Stanley loves to be amongst friends and win the appreciation of his peers and colleagues. He uses his sparkling wit and innocent wisdom to impress everyone he touches. At times spinning-a-yarn amongst friends about his mother’s flight, while on occasion conjuring some heartfelt poetry to impress the lovely English teacher, Rosy Miss (Divya Dutta). There are though teachers like the pungent Science Madam, Ms Iyer (Divya Jagdale) whose rigid beliefs smother Stanley’s innovative science experiment with all the contempt at her disposal. Then there is the gluttonous Hindi master, Verma Sir (Amole Gupte) who emerges as the catalyst in helping the boys bond for Stanley’s dignity and rightful place in the school.

The camaraderie between the boys comes to the fore when they thwart Verma Sir’s desperate attempts to polish off their dabbas with all the guile at their disposal. The gang makes the ‘invincible’ Verma show his true vulnerable self for once as he marches from one possible hideout to another in the school premises trying to binge upon their home made food.

Stanley, the little protagonist of Amole Gupte’s, latest film ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’ shows how, like the proverbial lotus, can one rise above all the filth around and make the world a better, beautiful place to live in.

The way he goes about bringing cheer to his colleagues and his little friends is what makes him the Stanley we all need to be in today’s day and age. Wise and sensitive, loving and mischievous: living every moment as if there is no tomorrow.

Dear Amole, open the Dabba soon! Can’t wait. All the best.

( PS – Geetanjali Rao has done the opening credits for the film )

( PPS – According to Vishal Bhardwaj, if that was Taare Zameen Par, this one is Chand Zameen Par)

Click here to know more about the film.