Many young Bengalureans who are into amateur filmmaking are attending local workshops that focus on different aspects of the medium
A still from the short film, Jayanagar VI Block
You may not be Guru Dutt or Ingmar Bergman yet, but there’s no harm starting out small. And more and more youth in Bengaluru seem to be thinking just that. With workshops on specific aspects of filmmaking flooding the city youngsters’ schedule in the coming weeks, amateur film making is more than a hobby in Bengaluru now.
While city directors like Saad Khan (Another Kind of Black) and Gagan Bhandar (Sankshypth) showcasing their short films at the Cannes Film Festival, Bengaluru is no stranger to soulful short films like D Sathya Prakash’s Jayanagar VI Block. Keerthi Natarajan, himself an award-winning short film maker who runs workshops that teach students to make films within 48 hours, says, “The main reason for the rise of filmmaking among youngsters these days is the digital revolution that’s happened over the last few years. The advent of DSLR cameras and easily workable editing software has made filmmaking easily accessible to everyone. Once they get to experience the entire process through a workshop, they may either love it to the core and pursue filmmaking for lifetime or they may get to understand the amount of hard work and difficulty that goes into making a film and may choose a easier hobby or career option.”
Also aiming to hone their skills are writers who wish to take up concise screen writing. The coming month will see a workshop by Kal Ho Na Ho and Wake Up Sid screen writer Niranjan Iyengar. Mala Mary Martina, who is responsible for bringing the famed talk show host to Bengaluru says, “When I was in the process of writing my second book, I got in touch with Niranjan and we realised that while there are many workshops taking place that are directed at career-minded youngsters, there are none which deal with the specific aspect of writing for the screen. The response that we have received has been phenomenal, and the youngest participant is just 12 years old!”
For the likes of students and aesthetically uncompromising city folk, there is no alternative to the lessons taught in workshops. “I had signed up for many photography workshops with hopes that I would pick up something about videography as well from them, but with no luck. However, of late, I have been discovering a lot of these endeavours devoted to cinema enthusiasts. The young city girl or guy is not simply okay with attending film screenings, they want a taste of making films – whether as a hobby or an early step into a profession,” says 23-year-old city film maker, Anerudh Bhattacharjee.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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