Forced to study Science,boy ends up making film on his struggles

The beginner’s steps on his chosen journey began after his brief stint at a call centre in Panchkula. He and his friends started work on collecting funds for the project,and started with just Rs 5,000.

Actors came from the group’s friends at school,college,work – anybody who had some real interest in this creative line. Without any formal training in acting himself,Upmanyu held training sessions for them for six months,so that they could act naturally in front of the camera.

The digital camera Upmanyu used had been gifted to him by his father after Class X. Now came the challenges. Upmanyu could shoot only a three-minute video at a time with this camera. The memory card had become outdated and could not be upgraded locally. Every three minutes,the shot would be uploaded on to the laptop,erased in the memory card,and then the next shooting would commence. Shooting could be done only on Sundays,as the actors were not available during the week. The fact that the eight actors in the film were from within the Tricity helped. “They were all just mad about the project. They were the crew,the enthusiastic assistants,everything. Some got food to provide for everybody,others gave lifts so that work could be completed on time. They also gave me moral support through it all and kept the whole thing going,” says Upmanyu.

After a year-and-a-half of such painstaking effort,the movie – 1.50 hours in length – was ready. It was screened in front of about 60 people in January and the audience was made up of the families and friends of all those involved in the effort. Upmanyu and his team got a standing ovation when the film was over. Upmanyu’s mother cried when she saw it,and wished she had known the pain her son had undergone. She is a staunch supporter of his now.

In addition to hone his skills in film-making,one of the major reasons Upmanyu made a film on his own struggle was to tell parents to understand their children better. “We often read in newspapers of a child or a youngster committing suicide. But we seldom know the terrible pain and isolation that drives a person to this point. The loss of a life is irreversible,” he points out.

The whole process has been a major learning experience for all those who were part of the team. Gurpreet Atwal and Heena Khan,part of Upmanyu’s group Kalashetra,say they all found a channel for their own creativity. Upmanyu’s homework for this project has been exhaustive. He has watched both Hollywood and Bollywood movies up to 60 times,trying to learn the ropes of filmmaking. Sound-mixing,video editing,cinematography,storyline,screenplay – everything in this movie is his own effort. He admits he cannot screen it outside. Since the music had to be downloaded from the internet,he doesn’t have the complete rights for the movie.

What sparked the fire in him was the movie Khamoshi,which he saw when he was in Class VII. “Watching that movie,I realised that this was what I wanted to do. Make films,give shape to the stories inside my head,” he says.

He is now starting work on his next film,and his destination,of course,is Bollywood.