“I dislike structure and routine, that’s probably why I shifted my focus from documentaries to fiction-led short films,” is a mixture of the innocence of a teenager, and also something that you don’t expect to hear from a 17-year-old.
Mauraya Sharma is not your usual teen, with his focus solely on school and related activities. He’s already made a mark for himself as a filmmaker with three short-films to his credit — the first one is on Vimeo, and two have won awards and recognitions.. If this hasn’t overwhelmed you, he’s also an artist (check his Instagram for proof), who has exhibited in India and abroad. Ask him whether he’s been judged for being a young boy making dreams into reality, he nods, saying, “Age has always been a factor of judgment. Simply because sometimes our society doesn’t understand that the relevance of the age has got little to do with experiences and personal knowledge. When my second short-film, Unbinding, won 20 awards, I think people started taking me more seriously.”
About his third movie, Seeped, Mauraya explains that this is a project that resulted from the thirst to produce good work during the lockdown. He gathered a team of 35 people to work on a story focussing on the exploration of sexuality and pain. This is his second project which explores gender and sexuality. He admits that his process of research was also a personal revelation about how gender fluid he is. “Questioning things like why playing with a Barbie was associated with a certain gender when the doll itself does not come labelled in any manner, and then, listening to retelling of mythological characters helped me in my understanding and I derive my research from that,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}About his third movie, Seeped, Mauraya explains that this is a project that resulted from the thirst to produce good work during the lockdown. He gathered a team of 35 people to work on a story focussing on the exploration of sexuality and pain. This is his second project which explores gender and sexuality. He admits that his process of research was also a personal revelation about how gender fluid he is. “Questioning things like why playing with a Barbie was associated with a certain gender when the doll itself does not come labelled in any manner, and then, listening to retelling of mythological characters helped me in my understanding and I derive my research from that,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}How has he been managing all of this with school? “I’m lucky it doesn’t have a set structure of subjects,” he adds.
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From HT Brunch, August 29, 2021
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