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Shimla boy bags award at international short film festival
A Shimla-based filmmaker, Siddharth Chauhan (23), has made the state capital proud by bagging an award at a short film festival recently organised at Kochi.
A Shimla-based filmmaker, Siddharth Chauhan (23), has made the state capital proud by bagging an award at a short film festival recently organised at Kochi.
His shoestring budget film 'Boys Don't Wear Nailpolish' has won the 'Golden Halo Award' at the SCRIPT International Short Film Festival-2014, which was organised on February 14 and 15.
The short film had also been screened at Delhi International Film Festival-2013, Phoenix Film Festival, Kolkata, and International Documentary and Short Film Festival VIBGYOR-2014.
He had earlier participated in the Indian Film Festival-2011 in Shimla with his film 'Dreams', which featured local talent. Dreaming to make it big in films, Siddharth's tryst with filmmaking took place at an early age. He learnt the tricks of the trade by reading and seeking information online. Using his sister's Nikon D 3200 camera, he made his first experimental film, 'Zunei', about regressive hypnosis at the age of 19.
Talking to HT, he said, "I am elated that my work and passion has earned recognition with this debut award."
Talking about 'Boys Don't Wear Nail polish', he said, "Set in the backdrop of the traditional Indian mindset, the film is a poignant, eloquent and stirring statement on a society where gender is reinforced in the child's consciousness from its very birth."
The film portrays a mother's battle against gender-stereotyping to protect her child's individuality in society. The film features Kamayani Bisht, an assistant professor of English, and Manan Thakur, a Class-2 student at St Edwards School, in the lead roles, and has been produced by Bisht. "The film has been written, filmed, directed and edited by me. It was shot at St Edward's School," he said.
The 12-minute film has been pulled off with a supporting crew of just two people: Ankit Rathore, a student of St Edward's School, and Vibha Sharma, a student of MCA, Himachal Pradesh University.
He has reasons to cheer as this film has also attracted the attention of national award-winning producer Sanjay Suri. Siddharth says that he is all set to move to Mumbai in March to assist a feature film to be produced by Suri's Anti Clock Films and Reliance Big Studios. "This opportunity will definitely help me gain more expertise," he says.