Director's Cut

Director's Cut
- a short film on urban street children

Sunday, April 11, 2010


Urban Smile - a short film on urban street children Inspite of our convincing as well as repeatative attempts to replace happiness with materialistic pleasures still there is a great part of our society who seeks happiness from their daily struggle for existence. Urban Smile is my reverence  to them who inspite of being deprived of their basic human rights still strives hard to sustain the innocent smile on their faces.
Urban Smile is completely an experimental venture of mine. The job was really tough enuff for me as i had to experiment wid both the aspects of real motion and 3D animation.. The real motion portion is solely a documentary and thats also on a really sensitive subject of deprived children who dont evn get the basic neccessities of life. Its the diference in lifestyle of a pampered child with children whom we love to regard as street destitutes. Where the former is alwaz provided with excess while the later one is deprived of their basic human rights.


While directing it the only thing that i alwaz kept in ma mind is the difference in perception towards happiness. 
Tis not alwaz neccessary that we must be wealthy to be happy... coz according to our surrounding we tamper the definition and medium of happiness. If we eva fail to achieve any of our simplest desires, we kip on complaining for the same bt i wanna show them that their are people residing simultaneously in our urban society who had changed the concept of happiness. they dont have any complaints , they dont have any grudge, they dnt evn have a proper home to seek refuge bt still they are fortunate as they have managed to ensure a permanent smile on their faces.
While making this I had to come across the toughest of hindrances as its a sensitive issue and tis all bout lives of slumdwellers and election is just knockin at the doors hence we were not even allowed to shoot at the places where we initially intended bt still we have managed to  shoot at some truly good locales. And Im really thankful to Anup da without whom this job would not have been possible. 
And am also grateful to all my frendz for their support and specially i ud like to thank Swapan da and Basu da for their help during our Pre Production process and also  Anirban da and Amit da to guide us through the entire process of production and post production.


While making this film I got to face some of the harsh realities of life. Though I couldn't show everything due to several obligations bt howeva i tried ma best to depict the true scenario.


Most of them are unaware about their orgin of birth.They dont evn know the names of their father. And when we went to their mothers to seek the names we just ended up staring stupefied as theirs mothers were also ignorant about the names of their biological fathers. Their mothers are mainly rag pickers and often gets indulged in sex trade to meet the basic needs of their families. Their is a lot more things to say but my mere grasp on language is not enough to depict their struggling lives and their meek attempts to find happiness and entertainment  through their struggle for existence. The stigma of class suppression might have deprived them from their constitutional and basic rights but it could not deter them from restoring a deific smile on their fragile faces.

Even though is not guided by politics but however anyone can sniff the filthy politcs behind this. State Government is trying hard to bring them in the main stream of life by providing them with basic free eductaion by alluring them with mid day meal. It was a pleasant sight to see the youth of Kolkata is working hard on them to provide them with basic education. But theirs attempts is also restricted to some limited extent as these street dwellers are engrossed with cliched conventions and superstitions and a part of them is under the influence of local goons and political frontrunner. During our Research and Developments works and even while through our post production process we have been hindered several times by some local goons under some political parties. 
Though it is a short film bt as the subject is really sensitive enough and their is a lot of obligations while working on this kind of subject hence it took really a long time for me to know the lives of these destitutes. Parents of most of these children are so much illeterate and is guided by cliched conventions that they are reluctant enough to send their children to Govt. sponsored primary schools. And some of the politcal parties are banking on them to enhance their respective vote banks. However politics is not the subject of the film 

-hence we must emphasize on the class difference still prevalent of our society. No government on Earth could solve this problem unless and untill we eliminate the curse named "Class Suppression" .

"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish" ... Mother Teresa. 

 I was completely moved  by this one liner by Mother Teresa. Though she emphasized mainly on class distinction but hardly do we ever try to feel her intent and her deeds. 


 I dont intend to bank upon their wretched conditions neither do I sympathize with them, and i hate to denounce this stigma of poverty to gain politcal footage  coz I believe a society of  right minded people are enough to eliminate this social evil called Poverty. However Urban Smile is a satire on ourselves as we are depriving those people who are contributing their lives to meet our endless demand for luxury and comfort. When we dig on a "Grand Opulence" or on "Pizza Royale" then these are the people who seek pleasure in boiled chicken feet or on feathers of chicken.



Now we are goin through the phase of post production pipeline and hope to finish it off within a couple of weeks frm now..

8 comments:

  1. hey....i dint knw that u a director....gd work...i love d snaps of the children...i loved the tone n d color...as u knw that photography interests me...so is ths snaps...
    gr8 work...keep 'em coming...:D

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  2. hehehehehehehehe thanxxxxx...nothing cud hav been more inspiring than than these sweeeet praisin words frm a sweeet li'l sis... and am not a director bt Im an ardent learner n still now in the process of learning till time runs out.:) thanxxx once again dear:D lolzzzzzzzzzzz

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  3. I dont know how to xplain u dis....and this is something I will not be able to xplain u in a short comment of ur blog....But just answer me...Do u love achieving perfection in the work u do? I guess if u r passionate about it..u'll surely do....there are different landmarks set...n u keep working harder to cross them and achieve them...finally...by ur sheer hard work...u reach a place where u feel happy for the good work n perfection u have achieved in ur life.....on that day, u r no more the same guy when you started...on that day , u have moved a long way ahead of ur other counterparts..who took their passion casually..or infact it was never a passion for them... Suppose on that day...I come to judge..both you n ur friend's work....and I just generalize and say...both are equally good...cuz..I dont want class difference...Is that correct? It is not ONLY a question that how cheated u wud feel but...I would rather cheat ART n Creativity.... If there had been no difference.... we would have never seen the best of picaso...greatness of saratchandra....and guiness of newton.... To contribute back to the society is what we should strive for...If you can work hard and arrange something where the poors can also work and earn their living , it will be ur biggest contribution.... dont give anybody, what they dont deserve...let every human live for there right and earn there living. Alms and mercy...makes people dependent...and eventually forget to make there own living. lets think of a way to arrange some work for them...I'm thinking..I know u r a very passionate person... share ur idea wid me..may be I can help!........but neways ..nice work.... plz dont say therez no difference between a trash and this sentive short piece of ART..Cheers to ur short film. I liked it.

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  4. am realyu honoured to have ur post ani.. bt i feel until n unless v change our perception towards art as a mere business means, tis hard to get another rabi thakur or bimal roy. It sucks wen i get to c c people dancing crazily to da tunes of tunir ma or poran jaye jolia re... whereas hardly ne1 bothers to make a remake of "shaare chuaattor" or "srimaan prithiraj"... hardly we gt to c another sequel of gupi bagha..
    bt to be very honest all art work is a class work n none cn deny this fact. from shakespeare to kalidas everyone has sumhow indulged themselves (rather unfortunately) in that class distinction. In earlier days ppl use to write plays for the courts of the kings n emperors. howeva in India Kalidas dared to infuse a revolutionary perspective in his plays through "Abhigyaan Shakuntalam".. Remember the remarks of the ashramite on his visit to king's court?? same as here the makers r responsible for deteriorating the standard of Indian Art n tis de only who blames the mass for not havin "an elevated choice of art"...If possible try to watch the movie called Bishar Blues by Amitava Chakroborty..


    but still it feels gr8 to have ur commnt ..thnxx for dat dude..

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  5. & as far as feeling happy wid myn work is concerned ... i had neva been unfortunately.. coz i blv our entirelife is all bout learning .. n v go thru that process till time runs n v find ourselves lyin on death bed ;)hehehehe

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  6. I know it will take some time for both of us to understand each others perception...which I beliee are both correct in our own ways...but dont you think that an artist creativity does not lies in making a remake of something but rather giving birth to some thing new...the ancient civilizations had many different architecture..but...with every century gave birth to new artists..who could dare to dream beyoud the cliche....erect something which could truly claim unique.....and speaking about class distiction...that will always be there...because...every second...some one works harder than the other...and the difference sustain...If you try to reverse it....the logic says ..some one has to work poorer than the other...... take ur time n think if the second logic works ?........tor next write up tao amar khub bhalo legeche bhai...keep writting...with the same passion n feeling!

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  7. sorry for late reply dude.. howeva by remake i intended to say a sequel or rather sumthing better than that... an as far as remakes are concerned... few calls it inspirations, few tag it plagiarism while others say it muse.. wateva it is .. there are certain classical creations which inherits modern art forms... say Sophocles, Ibsen, Marlowe,Dante... useless to say they r the trendsetters...

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