High Five

Stories of Joy brings together five short films that carry the message of joy of giving through interesting stories.

The people behind Stories of Joy had never met before. Yet they put together a short film in a little over a month as their initiative for the Joy of Giving week. The crew consists of people from the Marathi film industry,independent filmmakers and college students. They have all put together five short films which make a larger 30-minute-long film,titled Stories of Joy,which explores stories on joy of giving,replete with drama,twists and turns. It will be screened at NFAI on today at 4 pm.

How do filmmakers give joy to the society? Through story-telling, says Kiran Vaidya,co-producer of the film along with Vishal Bhujbal (25),who is credited almost unanimously by the crew for taking the initiative to get the crew together. Vishal had this concept in his mind and wanted to explore it. Then he contacted me and a few others,and through mutual contacts more people were roped into the project which started on September 7, adds Vaidya.

One of the five directors,Yogesh Jagam,took the onus of

coordinating with the rest. Talking about short films and Stories of Joy in particular,Jagam says Short films,sadly,are not taken seriously. So here we are,a bunch of experienced filmmakers,who have spent a considerable amount of time in the industry,giving our message of joy through a short film.

Jagam has contributed to the film as a director and an actor. The short film he has directed is called Chaiwala. I have explored the tendency of some sections of our society who believe in charity,but have a very superficial approach to it, says Jagam,adding My story revolves around a female protagonist who believes in philanthropy and buys vegetables only from farmers markets so as to be able to help them directly,but ends up haggling with them over change; and how she eventually learns a lesson from a chaiwala.

Another film,The Museum,explores the act of being able to give ones time. In this story,actor Shrikant Yadav plays a curator at a museum. The story is about a child who,on his birthday,is brought to the museum by his father,but they arrive a tad late. On being persuaded,the curator,who himself in a hurry to shut down and leave,allows the father-son duo 10 minutes to wrap up their tour of the museum, says Yadav,adding The father obviously tries to hasten the tour,but the curator,being closely attached to the artefacts kept in the museum,wants the child to appreciate the museums contents. He,therefore,changes his plans and takes the child on a thorough tour of the museum. The story,simplistically put by Yadav in a gist,has undercurrents of drama. The Museum has been directed by Vaibhav Khisti (25),a graduate of communications from Pune University and has been written by Jijivisha Kale (19),a third year student of psychology from SP College.

The fifth part of Stories of Joy is still in its post-production stages. It has been directed by FTII graduate Vikrant Pawar,whose short film Kaatal won the National Award earlier this year. The directors of other component films are Nupoor Bora,Shreyas Kulkarni who

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has co-directed Chaiwala and the duo Swapnil Kumawat and Prasad Bharadawaja,who have co-directed Chor.

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