At 20, Varun Agarwal has already made 10 short films. His latest is Stand for the Nation, a two-minute film shot on a camcorder, in the bustling Indian Coffee House on M G Road. Agarwal says the next stop will be Mumbai, and feature films.
The Telecommunication student of CMRIT, Whitefield runs a production company called Last Minute Films. He will be out of college next year. Then, it will be the mandatory hunt for the producer.
But that rsquo;s for later. Why the hearing impairment for the boy, the film rsquo;s lead character? That was for the suspense element.
The film rsquo;s core is still patriotism, and how youngsters fail to relate to it. In the entire coffee house (in the film), you see only the elderly man and this boy mdash; after putting his hearing aid on mdash; stand up when the National Anthem is being played. Is nationalism a theme you rsquo;d like to pursue in your features as well?
Yes. The idea behind Stand for the Nation was to reflect the indifference youngsters, unlike children or the elderly, have towards the sense of national identity. I asked many people whether they would stand up for the Anthem or not.
Most of them don rsquo;t, because they don rsquo;t have that strong sense of national pride. Short films are perceived as unsafe territory in India? That rsquo;s a sad fact.
The scene is bad in terms of festival exposure, as well as financial backing. No matter what the books teach, shorts are what get you hands-on experience. In the West, the market for shorts is huge.
Everyone from (Steven) Spielberg to (M. Night) Shyamalan started out with shorts. Vidhu Vinod Chopra started on similar lines.
.. Yeah, but he also had the FTII background.
For the amateur, it rsquo;s a long shot. Even on youtube, Indians have a markedly minimal presence, because we are not the best editors. I rsquo;ve been influenced by films like Shawshank Redemption and Schindler rsquo;s List.
Next up, I might do a music video for Pentagram.
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