Madhi Live

“The film is an attempt to trace their lives and compare it with the ground reality. The irony of the situation came to forth once I found my protagonist,Jivu Ben. She is the only woman of the family,who was travelling from Rajkot to Madhi. She was the decision-maker. I was struck by her strength and combative spirit,” says Shukla about Jivu Ben. “At first,it was difficult to talk to people,” says Shukla,adding that most of those visiting the fair hailed from remote villages and were scared of cameras.

The filming was a challenging process also because Shukla did not know which direction the story would take. “We were taught in class that we need a rough storyboard for the documentary. I had to wait for the fair to begin and only then,I could have known who my documentary would focus on,” he says.

While most of the documentaries on Indian fairs consist of same things — Ferris wheels,crowd,food and the rustic setting,Shukla wanted to break away from that mould. “I wanted to document the donkey fair faithfully,” he says. The 20-minute documentary was shot during Holi in March 2012 — in Hindi,Marathi and Gujarati.

Shukla,who hails from Bahraich,Uttar Pradesh,says he was an aspiring candidate for the civil services before he joined FTII . “I was trying to clear the UPSC exams for a while and had attempted the mains several times. When I didn’t get a call for the interview even after my last and final attempt,reality hit me. Here I was,30 years old and I had no option. I went into depression for a while and was encouraged to watch films to uplift my mood. This is how I got interested in films in the first place,and applied at FTII,” he says with a laugh.

The Donkey Fair won the award for Best Cinematography and a Special Mention at the 1st National Student Film Award,2013,and the Best Student Documentary Award at the 10th Jeevika: Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival,2013.