New Short Films under the “Introspect” Segment at the Bandra Film Festival

Bandra Film Festival (BFF), a digital film festival presented by Filmkaravan in collaboration with YouTube is currently streaming four poignantly introspective drama shorts on its platform. These shorts are based on day-to-day life experiences that invoke ideas of identity and the self and being showcased under the theme ‘Introspect’ on the BFF Youtube Channel.

Continue reading “New Short Films under the “Introspect” Segment at the Bandra Film Festival”

Bandra Film Festival celebrates women’s day with a stellar line up

4 Inspiring short film by women directors to watch on International Women’s Day 2021


What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day with your girlfriends than a line-up of inspiring films that feature the best portrayals of powerful women?Continue reading “Bandra Film Festival celebrates women’s day with a stellar line up”

The Script Room releases a trilogy of shorts titled QSQT on Humaramovie

The films feature ace writer Vijay Maurya (Gully Boy) and actor, Muskan Khubchandani (Laxmi Bomb, Veere Di wedding) among others. 
As the coronavirus crisis continues to upend the entertainment industry, streaming platforms have been entertaining the audience with a lot of new content shot within the confines of the homes. The Script Room, a creative hot shop that focuses solely on audio visual communication has recently created and produced a series of short films titled QSQT (Quarantine Stories of Quarantine Times). The film comprises 3 short stories that capture the woes of free citizens during the harsh lockdown observed by the country to curb Covid-19. QSQT has now released digitally on HumaraMovie.


The three short films within QSQT are named Essentials, Extension and Losing it, stars Vijay Maurya, Sanjay Dadhich, Vishal Capoor, Muskaan Khubchandani, Akashdeep Arora, Chirag Malhotra and Kunal Malhotra respectively. All the three films were scripted, shot, produced remotely and on a skeletal crew at home observing all social distancing norms laid down by the government. Karan Kulkarni has created the title track and casting has been done by Casting Bay.

Ayyappan, Co-Founder, The Script Room says, “This is our latest, jolly project. It’s titled QSQT (Quarantine Stories of Quarantine Times). Thanks to our friend Tushar (Coconut Films) for calling and saying that his brain is getting fried and can we do something exciting. We got the entire team together on Zoom and immediately started jamming on stories. We had a lot of ideas, thoughts and we shortlisted three plots what will be easily executable, given the lockdown constraints. And we clearly stayed away from very serious, social-purpose kind of narratives and chose light-hearted, insightful stories of the lockdown, more true to our personality as The Script Room.”

Ramsam Co-Founder, The Script Room, says, “We thought we’ll write something that can be shot from home. And instead of writing general stories and shooting during lockdown, we thought we’ll write stories about the lockdown itself. The execution in itself has its own share of ridiculously hilarious stories. Like to begin with casting, it meant not just the cast, but also their house, their willingness to direct themselves, the kind of equipment they have, the speed of their internet to transfer the files. Everything had to be considered. They had to shoot each other, and situations where both of them had to be in the same frame, the camera was placed on a chair, bed, cupboard, books or whatever was available and shoot. And the director was miles away only listening to them talk, and figuring out if it’s ok. It is the shoddiest, crude, organic way of narrating a story, the shaky camera, the bad lighting, the odd angles…it had its own charm. The same reflects in the titling and the music. We kept it raw and intuitive. These may be the stories told with the highest level of restrictions. But we’ve never had greater fun than this.”

He added, “It’s time and we should be grateful that virtual production and filmmaking has become an indirect proponent of social distancing, allowing filmmakers to create full scopes of movies without ever having to cram people onto a production set.”

Editorial Notes: –

QSQT CAST/CREW

Short Film 1 – Essentials

Cast – • Vijay Maurya – Known for Gully Boy. (Instagram Followers – 6276, Twitter Followers – 1868)

• Sanjay Dadhich – Featured in MS – Dhoni as Satya Prakash, in Sacred Games as Gaston, In Made in Heaven as Ali. Also had a role in Taare Zameen Par.Upcoming – Amriki Pandit (based on life of R. Madhavan) – (Instagram Followers – 1219)

• Vishal Capoor Crew:-

• Long Distance Director – Ujjwal Kabra

• On location direction – Vijay Maurya

Short Film 2 – Extension

Cast – • Muskaan Khubchandani – Was in Telugu film George Reddy. A failry known face in commercials – Lakme, Wotta Girl. Was last seen in Veere Di Wedding as Young Avni – Upcoming Movie – Laxxmi Bomb starring Akshay Kumar. (Instagram – 59.1K, Twitter – 1690)

• Akashdeep Arora – Was in Movie Uri – The Surgical Strike as the Drone Operator. Played a small role in Amazon Series Mirzapur. Was seen in Inside Edge – As Tanay a team analyst for the Mavericks. (Instagram – 14K, Twitter – 143)

Crew: • Long Distance Director – Indrasish Mukherjee

Short Film 3 – Losing It

Cast – • Chirag Malhotra – Was last seen in movie Helicopter Eela as Yash.( Instagram – 18.6K )

• Kunal Malhotra

Crew: –

• Long Distance Director – Ramsam

For all three films

• Music- Karan Kulkarni (Title Track)- Composed music for films such as Shahid, Peddlers, Happy Journey. Composed background score for movies like Tumhari Sulu, Aligarh and & Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, for which he also got a nomination at Filmfare Award for Best Background Score in 2020. (Instagram – 1093 Followers, Twitter- 455 Followers)

• Co-Producer-Suraj Shetty

• Executive Producers- Tushar Raut & Nupur Guha

• Concept, Story, Script, Dialogues Production- The Script Room (Rajesh Ramaswamy & Ayyappan Raj)

 

Watch the short films here:

Continue reading “The Script Room releases a trilogy of shorts titled QSQT on Humaramovie”

Asia’s Largest Film Making Challenge, India Film Project, Calls for Entries!

Asia’s largest content creation festival, India Film Project that encourages people to create video content will enter into its seventh edition this year. India Film Project invites entries from all the film enthusiasts who love making films from across the globe for all their competitive sections with 31st August’2017 as a closing date.Continue reading “Asia’s Largest Film Making Challenge, India Film Project, Calls for Entries!”

Katharina Suckale On Producing ‘The Idiot’ And Why Cinema Should Not Shy Away From Tackling Topical Issues

Katharina Suckale‘s journey into the world of cinema began 25 years ago. She began by working in film distribution and sales with MK2 – Marin Karmitz in Paris and later moved to film production.

She founded Suckale Film Produktion in 2003 and directed documentaries, short and experimental films and produced in Germany, France, Africa and India, where triggered her love for India. Subsequently Suckale co-founded Bombay Berlin Film Productions (BBFP) with actor Arfi Lamba (Fugly, Singh Is Bling). Since its inception, BBFP has produced many noteworthy features including Prague (as Executive producers), LOEV and The Road To Mandalay that combine unconventional subjects, lifelike characters and everyday issues in a very interesting manner.

Their latest venture ‘The Idiot’  is in a similar vein and another interesting addition to their repertoire. Directed by Ruchi Joshi and Sriram Ganapathy, the 18 minute short film deals with issues of Islamophobia, religious fanaticism and bigotry among other topical issues. Continue reading “Katharina Suckale On Producing ‘The Idiot’ And Why Cinema Should Not Shy Away From Tackling Topical Issues”

Ruchi Joshi On Directing ‘The Idiot’ And Quashing Religious Bigotry And Prejudices

 Directors Ruchi Joshi and Sriram Ganapathy‘s short film Murakh a.k.a The Idiot is the story of a man (Arfi Lamba) arrested for hijacking a plane and the chaos that ensues. Through this premise, the film which uses dark humour to drive its narrative, attempts to shed light on a society plagued by bigotry and paranoia.

 At a time when incidents of communal clashes and hate crimes seem to be on an upswing, Joshi and Ganapathy’s film seems to serve as a much needed call for introspection.

The 18 minute film which is produced by Katharina Suckale (Bombay Berlin Film Productions) and shot by Ganapathy is an official selection at the 40th Edition of the Asian-American International Film Festival in New York.Continue reading “Ruchi Joshi On Directing ‘The Idiot’ And Quashing Religious Bigotry And Prejudices”

Officer’s Choice Blue pays tribute to the real heroes with ‘Salute Zindagi’

~Officer’s Choice Blue Snacks launches ‘Real Heroes’, Salute Zindagi, a short film platform that brings alive the heartwarming stories inspired by true events~

Allied Blenders and Distillers Pvt. Ltd., India’s most admired homegrown spirits company launches Officer’s Choice Blue Snacks, Salute Zindagi in association with Saregama. Taking forward the brand’s core ethos of the ‘Good Samaritan’, the platform is set to host six short films inspired by the lives of real heroes, who have personified the value of righteousness in their deeds and action.Continue reading “Officer’s Choice Blue pays tribute to the real heroes with ‘Salute Zindagi’”

Lexus and The Weinstein Company Invite the Next Generation of Transformative Storytellers

Submissions are now open for Season 4 of Lexus Short Films. Opportunity for Indian Filmmakers to take their work global.

Season 3 films including Cannes Bronze Winner ‘Game’ now available for online streaming.Continue reading “Lexus and The Weinstein Company Invite the Next Generation of Transformative Storytellers”

Basil Content And Pocket Films Team Up for Shorts

Noted film producer Vivek Kajaria (Fandry, Siddhant, Raakshas) today announced that his company ‘Basil Content Media’ has teamed up with Sameer Mody’s ‘Pocket Films’ to give a much-needed boost for short films in the country. The two companies will work jointly to create and promote short films in the country and abroad. Continue reading “Basil Content And Pocket Films Team Up for Shorts”