The Winning Cut

In Mumbai,Lord Krishna strolls through the streets of Mumbai at night,wondering about the transition from the old world to the new,and uses an ATM counter to withdraw money. In Delhi,a couple of Delhi University students look for stores that would be open on August 15. These are the unusual themes of films made by students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) that recently won awards at the 58th National Awards ceremony held in Delhi. On Monday,FTII organised a special felicitation ceremony for the award winners.

Arunima Sharma,who won the Swarna Kamal Award for Best Direction,says,“My film Shyam Raat Seher tells the story of Mumbai from a very different outlook. Having lived there all my life,I found it to be fascinating that there is always something unusual and quirky about the city waiting to be discovered.” Second year direction student Pratik Vats was the recipient of the Rajat Kamal award for Best Short Fiction Film – Kal 15 August Dukan Band Rahegi . “We shot the film over just three days here at the FTII studios. The film was a part of our second year project and it details the lives of a few students from Delhi University who roam the streets of Delhi on the eve of Independence Day only to learn that shops would be closed the next day,” he says.

Sharma,who shot her film over 10 days in Mumbai and Pune,recounts her shooting experience. “The whole idea of my story was to take Krishna out of his stereotypical mould and place him in the common world. In fact,when we were doing the ATM shoot at an ATM off Prabhat Road,a huge crowd gathered there and cheered us on as though it were a big budget film shoot.”

While Vats is currently working on his final year film which is an adaptation of a short story written by Sharad Joshi,Sharma is already working on her first Bollywood project- Cocktailwith Homi Adajania,director of Being Cyrus . “It’s fun to work on a full-length,big budget film. There is a lot to learn. I look at the experience as one that will broaden my horizon as a director. When I get down to directing my own film,experiences like these will come in handy,” she adds.