Cut it Short

In July,Shorts,a compilation of five short films screened at different festivals — Shlok Sharma’s Sujata,Siddharth Gupt’s Epilogue,Anirban Roy’s Audacity,Rohit Pandey’s Mehfuz and Neeraj Ghaywan’s Shor — was released. While compiling them,Deep Singh Kakkad,the executive producer of Shorts,realised that all the short films,barring Audacity,were made by assistant directors of Gangs of Wasseypur I and II. “This became a point to market the movie,though promotion was mainly restricted to the internet as we didn’t have enough funds,” says Kakkad,who works with Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt Ltd.

Even though Kakkad is planning more such compilations for theatres,the internet remains the best platform to showcase short films as it doesn’t involve major promotion or release costs. Once posted,these movies stay online for long,generating hits. For example,humaramovie.com,which was founded in March 2012 by Vinay Mishra,Pallavi Rohatgi and Preety Ali,releases a new short every Tuesday on its website. “Humaramovie was launched as an alternative to Indian television programmes where soaps are long-winding and edgy content is rare,” says Mishra. In the one-and-a-half year of its existence,Humaramovie,which gets nearly 1,50,000 views per week,has released 120 shorts and has another 100 in its bank. It also provides monetary and editing support for the films.

While most of the shorts released by Humaramovie are made by aspiring filmmakers,the company has roped in big names like Anurag Kashyap,Vikramaditya Motwane,Anurag Basu and others to mentor short filmmakers. “India has a long way to go in creating different kinds of content,typically in the independent film space. We do have some good content in India,and more is being created right now,” says Mishra.

Then,there is Pocket Films which distributes “alternate content” including short films,documentaries,and independent films on internet and mobiles; these can be viewed on their homepage as well as YouTube. Started in 2009,it has built a bank of nearly 2,500 short films in various languages. Saameer Mody,owner of Pocket Films,says,“In 2009 and 2010,we had not even touched 1 million hits. Today,our total hits stands at 55 million and this means nearly 300 per cent growth in our viewership.” Pocket Films provides content to mobile phone service providers such as Vodafone and BSNL,has an app for iPad and plans to launch one for Android soon.

New technology may have boosted the production of short films,but they are not a new concept. According to Anubhuti Kashyap,director of Moi Marjani,a 19-minute film about a spirited single mother,short films have always been made in good numbers in India. “Most assistant directors pick up a handycam and start shooting. This improves their familiarity with the craft,” she says. For Pandey,making short films is like “doing riyaaz that helps polish my skill”. Making short films has also been de rigueur in film schools. Filmmakers like Sevak use their own cameras and cast their own friends in films,which they can show to prospective producers.

Making short films,however,has its challenges. Given the short attention span of viewers,Mishra insists that filmmakers restrict movies to 10 minutes; some on Humaramovie are as short as two minutes. This means tight scripts,good writing and interesting twists to keep the audience hooked. Kashyap says she could have made Moi Marjani in 30 minutes,but had to cut it short as she had already overshot the time limit of 15 minutes. Her movie was one of the five shorts commissioned by Google and produced by Viacom 18 to portray India sans touristy clichés. Other films which were a part of this initiative were Gitanjali Rao’s Chai,Neeraj Ghaywan’s The Epiphany,Shlok Sharma’s Hidden Cricket and Vasan Bala’s Geek Out. The movies were released on YouTube in June. “We were given a budget as well as the freedom to do the kind of film we wanted. It turned out to be a nice playground for us,” says Rao,who received three awards at the Cannes festival in 2006 for her 15-minute animation film Printed Rainbow.

Since the internet is open to all kinds of content,it widens the scope for experimentation. For example,Sevak shot his film with an iPhone on busy Mumbai streets. Rao’s Chai ends with the sound of a train created through plates,spoons and cups of tea. Actor Anand Tiwari,of Go Goa Gone fame,used the same set of actors for Neighbours 1 and 2 and Oye Teri,which he directed for Humaramovie. Each of the three films takes a quirky,humourous look at relationships.

Though most filmmakers enjoy making short films,they don’t make much money from them. “Had making short films been a financially viable option,I would love to make more,” says Kashyap. Rao echoes her sentiment. “Shorts give me a chance to share more stories,” she says. Sharma,who has made shorts like Tubelight ka Chand and Hidden Cricket,“loves the joy of making a complete movie within a month” even as he awaits the release of his first feature,Haramkhor. For Sarvesh Mewara,internet and short films are a great way of grabbing eyeballs. “I posted my film,made under The Girl and the Autorickshaw series on Facebook,assuming that my friends would like and share it. When I checked my page next,it has scored some 18,000 views. In the next five hours,it touched 36,000,” recalls Mewara.

A large number of views does not necessarily translate into money. Revenue is mostly generated through online advertising,which hasn’t been pouring in. “Short films have a tough time making money anywhere in the world. We expect the good short films to make money — not a lot though — in the next couple of years,” says Mishra.