Minute Fillings

Bala left a stable bank job at the age of 27 and assissted Anurag Kashyap in Dev.D and Gulaal. In 2009,he was waiting for an autorickshaw outside Andheri (E) station as he was getting late for a lecture by director Sriram Raghavan and most auto drivers refused. It is this incident that he has taken inspiration from in his one-minute film titled Auto Madar. “The film is about a contract killer getting late for a kill and not getting any auto. It’s a minute-long dark comedy,” says Bala. Interestingly,the film was made on a frugal budget of Rs 200 and the shots have not been staged. “I had a camcorder with me and I told my actor to just stand outside the Andheri station and look for an auto. Luckily that day no auto driver was ready and that’s exactly what we shot. For the last shot,we paid the auto wallah Rs 100 and that’s how we finished it in no time,” explains Bala. What excites him the most is the jury. “I am happy to have just made it to top 25 and the most amazing fact is that revered members of the film fraternity like Neill Blomkamp,director of District 9 have seen my film,” concluded an elated Bala. The festival also sees an Indian member—writer-director Tanuja Chandra—in the Festival’s jury for the first time along with Scandinavian film critic Jan Lumholdt and film historian and critic Ronald Bergan.

Apart from Bala’s Auto Madar,29-year-old Mookerji’s film Gone has also made it to the top 25 in Filminute 2010. Actor,director,stand-up comedian,playwright—Mookerji has played numerous roles in his professional life. “I was thoroughly impressed when I watched an entry from last year’s festival and decided to give this a shot,” said Mookerji. Gone,made on a budget of Rs 30,000,is the story of a volunteer who goes on stage for a magic show,which ends with a goof-up. There are no dialogues in the film and the beauty of the concept lies in the expressions of actors and the soundtrack. Mookerji hopes that the concept of short films will catch on in India and says,“Even though I come from a country with a billion plus population,I will probably notch up very few votes because the buzz here is very low.”