For aspiring film makers, screenplay writers and directors,the film bazaar was the place to be to have their projects discovered by theright people. Such was the case withArti Kadav, a graduate from Whistling Woods International Institute for Films,Media, Animation and Media Arts. An aspiring screenplay writer/ director, herscreenplay ‘Punha’ was already discovered by the likes of Guneet Monga, AnuragKashab and Vikram Motwane and is set to be made in 2013.
An excited Arti says, “Punha is a science-fiction fantasyscript. It is meant to rediscover the culture of Indian fantasy storytelling, aculture that is unique to India. The script itself is unprecedented anddifferent, and that was the core element of my pitch to Vikram.”
However the concept of the movie, being this different, wastough to get out there and that is where film bazaars such as this one comeinto play. People from big production houses and their littler counterparts,are the ones who help in making the careers of these talented novices. Artisays, “These bazaars help people like us come into contact with big productionhouses who would normally not even let us set a foot in the door. It’s a greatplace to build networks which would help even later in your career. You neverknow who you meet and who may be the ones to take your career to the nextlevel.”
When asked about how the script came about and what the ideawas behind ‘Punha’, Arti chuckles and says, “I am a software engineer and did astint in that line in Kanpur. While there, I was exposed to the idea ofartificial intelligence. The story is about how one can use technology toachieve immortality. I believe that you get your ideas from your life’sexperiences.”
So what was her biggest challenge in the whole process offilm making? She says, “For me the actual struggle was writing the script. Ittook me two years to be able to get the script together and it was difficultfor people to understand the dynamics of writing. People would ask me, ‘Whydoes it take so long to write? When is your movie actually going tohappen?’ Statements like that can be abit discouraging. The next struggle was approaching the right people with myscript. I wanted to find someone who was just as excited about making my movieas I was while writing it.”
Having made initial contact with the people she believes arethe right parties to take her film forward, the future appears bright for Arti,and it may not be long before ‘Punha’ finds its way to cinemas.
