While children’s hopes have often been projected on the big screen, here’s a story about a street boy’s passion for flying kites that takes you not just into his city, but also his mind.
After winning accolades at the 62nd Berlin Film festival, Gattu, directed by Rajan Khosa is all set to hit Indian shores on April 20. From its location to the choice of characters, the film takes you to the world of a great kite flyer character from the town of Roorkee.
“There was a gap of six months from the day I made up my mind on Mohammad to play Gattu to the day I actually starting shooting. In the script Gattu was a quiet boy, seething with desire. But after two months of workshop with the kids, I failed to find such a kid. And instead found a naughty brat —Mohammad Samad,” he shares.
What followed was a change of script. “I thought it would be wise to integrate Samad into the fibre of my film. I decided to shoot in the school where he studied. He is a great kite flyer and knew every street and corner, and the local language, so I turned the little boy Gattu in my script into a free-spirited rebel. My assistant director Mayank was the one who first found him and convinced me, that Mohammad Samad had great talent. His speech was not clear, so Mayank did a two-month long workshop with him to clear his speech,” he says.
And it wasn’t just the narrow alleys of Mohammad’s town that Rajan had to explore, but the child’s thought process too.
“I flew kites with him and learnt of his daring and his utmost belief in winning. I learnt that a child believes far more than an adult, so this child had to win at the end of the film. I myself lost control when my screenplay and reality merged,” quips Rajan.
For someone who has spent his childhood in Old Delhi flying kites, he chose to shoot the film in Roorkee as he wanted to find a place that resembled his childhood days, “and the city of Old Roorkee is very close to that,” he adds.
What will grip you is the fact that the film has picked up every real element from the Sati Mohallah in Roorkee, where it’s shot. “From the baby sheep, that is Gattu’s pet, to the school, the tiny bicycle that Gattu uses in the film, which was lent by local cycle hiring shops, everything in the film is real. Kite flying is an art that every kid knew in that town, so all I had to do was distribute kites and there was a riot in the sky, so that’s real in the film. They all knew how to use sand to check wind direction before flying the kite, which is shown in the film,” he adds.
The film workshop was treated as a community project, where people joined it to help the cause of education. “Thanks to Yamini Upadhye, my line producer, for she brought in this spirit. I’m also thankful to Ankur Tewari, my co-writer, who first directed me to this city. We did not pay for any location or hiring of properties,” he says adding that people willingly brought them objects (table, chairs, utensils, etc) and deposited in their stores for a certain period of time.
“Even school dresses and clothes were lent to us by the locals. Some even brought objects left over by their dead parents, uncles or aunts, thinking they would be blessed by them in their graves,” he informs.
The humble director says it’s difficult to say what will be the fate of this film in India. “Kids don’t differentiate between Bollywood or independent cinema, they just want a great story. But it is the adults who make this difference, who give access to star-studded films, and not meaningful films that lack stars. It is adults who take marketing decisions, out of fears, and bitter past experiences. Only a distributor, really daring, and an out of the box thinking can buckle this system, and speak to the masses,” he signs off.