Tightrope Talkies

Detailing eight lives,the 52-minute documentary was intended to be a 15-minute film. The team began with an elaborate hunt for the tightrope walker. “My two-member team tracked one such girl to a hutment colony in Panvel. Her parents were reluctant to talk or let us photograph a street performance. After two days there,we realised why many of the girls are actually boys dressed up as girls to evoke more sympathy from people. After some persuasion we shot Chhoti,the tightrope child.” Meeting other children in the area with unique skills changed the team’s plans and they made it into a full-fledged documentary.

This is Mohamed’s second after The Last Irani Chai,and shooting the children was a novel experience. “Kids love the camera. But they’d ask,‘Okay so you’re making a film on us…but how will our lives change?’ We had no answer to that,” he says,adding that his assistant and cameraman Karan Desai’s charming ways helped. “I was the ‘serious uncle’ while Karan was the ‘sweet uncle’. He got so obsessed about documenting them that they would run away from him,shouting,‘Bhaago,camerawala uncle phir se aaya’ (run,uncle with the camera is back),” says Mohamed.

Little Big People has influences from all walks of life. Mohamed,says the children usually speak their minds. Shabbo,for instance,dreams of becoming the next ‘Chikni Chameli’,while another hopes of becoming a cricketer. “One kid dreams of going to a Chinese restaurant and eat noodles ‘like the rich people do’ once a month. The proceeds from the film will go to the kids’ education,medical aid,clothes and wish fulfilment,” he says. He adds that he has terrible luck with producers. “So I chose to produce my own documentaries by raising my own resources and technical support from friends who believe in film-making and not profiteering,” says Mohamed,who has completed the subtitling of the film.

There is a huge pinch of sarcasm at the mention of government support. “Film departments of the Information & Broadcasting ministry are ruled by officers who can’t distinguish a David Dhawan from a De Sica. My agent Anjali Bhushan will help me find the audience for the film,” he says.