The Real Millionaire (Khara Karodpati)
The Indian version of TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? hosted by Amitabh Bhachchan found its way deep into the national popular consciousness. While he was a film student under time and budget constraints, Piyush Thakur made the bittersweet short film The Real Millionaire (19 minutes) in Marathi with English subtitles. It’s the story of what happens to village farmer Vishnu after he gets invited onto the show and returns to his village.
Deaf Brown Gurl
Filmmaker, playwright, and performer Sabina England wanted to show the diversity of Indian society in Patna and of Indian groups (Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists), including Deaf Indians. Her new poetry film Deaf Brown Gurl was filmed in Bihar, India, and performed in American Sign Language with English and Spanish subtitles plus voice over and sound design by Micropixie.
A Leap of Faith
After the CIA ran a fake vaccination campaign as cover to hunt for Bin Laden in Pakistan, the country faced a polio crisis from unvaccinated children, because health workers were viewed with distrust and targeted by the Taliban. Short film A Leap of Faith is part of a campaign to rebuild trust with Pakistan migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates to get their kids vaccinated back home. Filmmaker and organic halal butcher Bassam Tariq was approached by the Gates Foundation to make the film after his feature-length These Birds Walk.
Shameless
Set in a fictional Indian village, the 4-minute long Shameless has been making the rounds on the film festival circuit. It has a splendid ending and shows a woman on trial for prostitution turning the tables on her accusers. Written and directed by Geeta Malik, Shameless from Shetani Films is produced by Reena Dutt with cinematography by Quyen Tran. Featuring Omi Vaidya (3 Idiots), Kevin Mukherji, Ronobir Lahiri, Karthik Srinivasan, Sean T. Krishnan, Reena Dutt and Geeta Malik.
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Pavani Yalamanchili is an editor at The Aerogram. Find her on Twitter @_pavani and follow The Aerogram on Facebook or Twitter.
