Just for the record
Mehta-Mahatta... The Memory Maker
Avlokita and Dhaw-alika are two young filmmakers who don’t prefer to use their surnames. The two, just out of college post their Mass Communica-tion are now in Mumbai in search of their dream jobs.
These students from Jamia Millia Islamia’s AJK-Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) had gone to Goa to interact with critics about their fiction film, Dhoomil, that ran at the 43rd International Film Festival of India. “The story of Dhoomil is of Ahana, a psychology student and daughter of a schizophrenic woman. Ahana is obsessed about curing her mother through the art of storytelling,” says Avlokita, who calls the story a brave attempt on the team’s part. “Cinema has to bear social responsibility. It is much more than entertainment. It must present the real picture,” reasons Dhawalika.
Dhoomil is one of the seven films — a mix of fiction and documentary — created by the batch of JMI that is passing out, as part of their graduation film portfolio. The documentary film by another student Vandana presented the 1975 Emergency of India through the experiences of Naxalite Prabhat Kumar Choudhary, holed up in jail during the 21-month-period; journalist and human rights activist John Dayal; historian Uma Chak-raborty and actor and st-reet theatre artiste, Avijit Dutt. “The project took more than three months to complete. This was a time our generation didn’t see, but recognised as a landmark event. Researching the subject and getting to the right people was difficult, but the film was an eye-opener,” she says.
Zoya Parvin’s Paridhi is a story of a lad from Bihar, Salim working in a big city to earn for his family back home. His sole dream is to ride a bicycle. To him, cycling is liberation. “And he eventually buys a second-hand cycle without compromising on his duties. But he is forced to sell it. The story means the paridhi or circumference of Salim’s life that keeps bringing him back to the dhaba,” says Parvin.
The seven short-duration films were made by teams of five students each. These students are now on professional pursuits, a few are already working on film projects and a few others are with production houses. “It was the first time that JMI presented at IFFI, and the experience was great. We got bouquets and critical views on our work and met interesting people to network with,” says Suparna Sarkar, whose project was based on the life of eminent photographer Madan Mah-atta. The photographs of 80-year-old Mahatta captured the architectural growth of Delhi from the late 1950s to the mid 1980s. “His name was proposed by our faculty and we spoke to the key people in his life on his journey. An interesting person, we realised that his story had to be shared with everyone,” says Suparna.
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