"We can..." bags 2nd prize at IMT Ghaziabad

Kartavya had just released a day back. I was getting out of class when Ritika stopped me. I didnt know that i was going to get my greatest gift (thanks to Kartavya's success) then and there. She had cleared the 1st round at IMT-Ghaziabads contest and wanted me to help her clear the 2nd round. The theme was Women Empowerment so sitting in the next class came the concept of We Can...

It was based on the theme of
Once upon a time....
We were ignored.... We were vulnerable.... We were outcasted

But now....
We can Play, We can Win, We can challenge, We can defend, We can manage, We can strategise....
The women of today..... We can....

So started the work on the empowering of women.... It was really fun filled 2 days with shooting
bike races, basketball and football matches... Thanx to ankur and vinay the bike race went of real well. Thanx to sandeep for ready to get beaten up by a girl on camera and he played the role real well. That fall over the table was amazing.. The trump card of the movie was the potrayal of Sonia Gandhi.... Thanx Neha no one could have played that role better than u. It was a movie much more involved with students than Kartavya since over 20 people shot for it....

Yesterday We can along with Ek Awaaz (Nukkad Natak) were screened at IMT ghaziabad's Passion 09 and thanx to Ritika and Aditi, we won 2nd prize.... When ritika called and told me we had won, it did not sink in... She was like arent u happy, i was too shocked and amazed because i
wasnt expecting to win won bit....

Thanx Priya, Riti and Aditi.... You guys are great...

No one and i mean no one would ever understand what We Can... and this victory means to me.. People would feel that i am arrogant abt it but they will never understand the emotions i attached with it....

Kartavya: My debut production

After having 2 stints of love affairs with photography and blogging, i recently fell in love for the 3rd time, with film making....

This love story goes back to Milestone 35 where i dont know why but i participated in AdAge ( the ad making contest) and i finally had a camera in hand. As luck would have it, I proposed the judges, they accepted and hence i fell in love with the idea of movie making.

So here presenting to you Kartavya, the first production under the Indian Magik banner ( yes guys i have named it Indian Magik) I received a lot of queries as to why Indian Magik. This name was the turnaround in my MBA career, it was from here that i noticed the change that France had brought in me. The confidence, the zeal, the passion to win. So guys till the luck of Indian Magik walks with me, the name's Magik, Indian Magik

So now coming to the movie, Kartavya. I was discussing one night with Priya about the movie making contest at MICA. It was then that the concept of Kartavya came up. A lot of plans came up, a lot of plans were rejected, one almost finalised ( on single parenthood) but rejected due to lack of child actors. It was after a lot of brainstorming that we came to the idea of the Vidharba farmer suicides.

Quoting from the movie " Vidharbha always remained a grim statistic with one suicide every 8 hrs. Most of these victimes between the age of 20 and 45, their most productive years. But have we ever thought what happens to the families of these deceased farmers" So we came about the idea of showing the aftermath of these suicides, hence prostitution.

With 2 days to the deadline we finalised the idea. Next morning got together a team of juniors to play the various roles and by evening we were set to shoot. With wonderful performances by Vidhi and Sanjesh the 1st day turned out to be real satisfying.

The next day the dead body scene and the landlords scenes were shot with lights fading fast. In the end the landlord scene had to be shot in the night itself.

Both the days the greatest difficulty we had was getting our actors to find time from their classes. I was running out of time with the deadline closing in and my actors had classes till 3.30 daily. so after their classes explain the scene, get them dressed and shoot before the sun set at 6.00 Once all this was done it took me almost whole nights sitting up and doing the editing work.

But it was real fun working with these guys. Esp the scenes which one can see in the making video. In one the dead body starts laughing as the scene is being shot. Another scene where the wife goes to the landlord had at least 15 retakes because someone or the other (including me) started laughing midway.

A really special thank you to all the actors, Vidhi, Sanjesh, Hitansh, Ridhima, Swati, Utkarsh, Andy, Anu. Sahil, Rohit and last but not the least Priya. Guys without u Kartavya would never and i mean never possible. Love u all

Yesterday Kartavya got knocked of at the contest in MICA.It hurt at first but then i realised what all this movie had given to me. Great friends, great appreciation, great learning, great recognition, another love.... what else could i ask for. My colleagues here at IMT appreciated my effort, thats enough of a victory. No MICA can take that away from me

You can see kartavya on the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92It2g430Gk