Shikari:
A great project with a great Star. Not just a star which shines up above in the sky but a star which twinkles in every heart .
Mr. Mammootty is a superb human being and above it a great professional including an superb artist. Isn’t it great, to have done a project with him.
It was a long project. Spread over approx. 2 years. We completed it in 5 schedules. 3rd schedule was the longest 29 days. And believe we completed the whole film in 42-43 days. Its a bilingual film , shot for Malayalam as well Kannada.
Abhaya Simha is the director ( has done a fabulous job ). It has four songs. First i would like to showcase these 4 songs then few promos and finally the making of Shikari
Song 1 ( Vavava veera / Welcome ) ↓
Song 2 ( Kanninokalabhamaya / Duet ) ↓
Song 3 ( Karimukile / Vande-matram ) ↓
Song 4 ( Taazhvarayile / Rajkumar ) ↓
Promo by Indiavision news- 1 ↓
Promo by Indiavision news- 2 ↓
Official Promo for T.V. – 1 ↓
Official Promo for T.V. – 2 ↓
Official Promo for T.V. – 3 ↓
Making of Shikari ↓
Here i would like to mention about my good friend Umesh who is my batch-mate from XIC (bombay) mass media education course.
He is a director, who has directed many shows and many big artist for TV promos. This time he was in role of a producer for series of Ad-films to be made for SAD-BJP ( Shiromani Akali Dal – BJP ) – Ruling Political Party of Punjab.
For directing these 4 challenging commercial, which were also bound by time limitation, Arshad was roped in by Umesh.
Arshad is another batch-mate from XIC. So it became an post-college party.
We worked hard at day time and chatted till late night.
All the commercial were shot in a village near Mohali. in the month of december 2011, very cold and chilly. more stories of the shoot later but first the commercial. first and fore most my favorite one.
Ghar- Ghar ↓
Father & Son ↓
School Drama ↓
Girl Education ↓
The Experiment – Hollywood feature film
The Experiment- The Indian portion was shot by me. Director, Paul Scheuring (of the fame ‘Prison Break) with artist Adrien Brody (Oscar award winner for ‘The Pianist’ ) and Maggie Grace (of the fame ‘The Lost’ ) had come down to India to shoot Indian Sequences. I happened to be the DOP for that Shoot. It was shot in varanasi.
The Experiment Excerpts ↓
National Award for “Best Children Film” year 2008
Film Gubbachigalu has been adjusted as best children film in the 56th National award ceremony (announced Jan.2010). It has been to more than 8 international film festivals around the globe, winning award at many places including ‘best family film’ award at New York film festival 2008. The film also had the honour of being a part of Indian Panorama at International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 2008. A glorious acclaim by first time director Abhaya Simha, freshly baked from FTII, pune. Also a first feature film for D.O.P Vikram Shrivastava. who happens to be Abhaya’s batch mate (2006 batch), roommate, and a close friend. They have been together on almost all their major ventures, including all FTII projects. Other than these two another FTIIan – Anmol Bhave, now a two time National Award winner, was also a part of ‘gubbachigalu’. He composed music and engineered the sound of the film.
The Duo, Abhaya and Vikram are again together on “Shikari”. Story, script and screenplay by Abhaya Simha. who also will be directing the film. Mammootty being in the lead role.the film is in its pre-production phase.
Anyhow, here’s the trailer of the film ‘Gubbachigalu’.
TRAILER- GUBBACHIGALU ↓
Gubbachigalu Excerpts Part 1 ↓
Gubbachigalu in English is known as Sparrow. This video contains excerpts from the film, the length is approx. 7 min.
Gubbachigalu Excerpts Part 2 ↓
Part 2 of the excerpts, also about 7 min long. edited by in crudest form. Smaller versions as teaser or promo can be fetched down the page.
Gubbachigalu Trailer – 1. Trailer, promo, or teaser of 30 sec. long ↓
Amidst the hustle-bustle of the concrete jungle of a sprawling city, two children go on a quest to find ‘their’ missing sparrow. This film Gubbacchigalu (Sparrows) takes us with the children – Ila and Anirudha – on their journey as they pursue the elusive sparrow. They set off from home with a guilt-ridden conscience that they may have been responsible for the sparrow’s disappearance. But it is their innocence and curiosity that take them on a trail of learning and discovery as they arrive at unusual places and meet unusual people. Everyone they meet says that sparrows are around but are they really there?
Gubbachigalu Trailer – 2. Trailer, promo, or teaser of 30 sec. long ↓
Unable to find even a single sparrow in sight, the children’s anxiety and guilt only grows after each encounter. Do the children finally find the sparrow? The once ubiquitous sparrow is now almost an extinct species. This movie brings into sharp relief the realities of urban life, curious young minds and a dwindling biodiversity.
Sufi Excerpts
A documentary based on sufi trends in India. Directed by a very talented film critic Rajeev Shrivastava. He is based in Delhi. Rendering a different perspective to the subject, Rajeev has been on the documentary for about 2 years. following various sufis and their trends in India. The documentary has been shot in almost all regions of India.
Another small edit of the same documentary. Actually, this Documentary is called ” Mast Qalandar”
Mast Qalandar Showreel ↓
Disney On TataSky ↓
A Promo (promotional video) for Disney Channel was shot by me in the month of August of 2009. Shot on DigiBeta. Now on-air. Umesh Kohli directed it and i feel he has done a great job.
Rab Jaane – रब जानॆ ↓
This is a music video for Euphoria. The song is a part of Euphoria’s (one of India’s most popular bands) latest music album ‘Mehfuz’. This song is titled ‘Rab Jaane’ in the album. The idea of the video is to depict the spirituality of India. We Indians leave so many things to God and thus we are happy. Every work starts with God and ends by thanking him. In this video, we work around this concept. A bit of story mixed too. (more)
Documentary On Unani Healing ↓
Again Directed by Rajeev Shrivastav. Shot at various geographical locations of India. Very informative documentary. Made for Ministry of External Affairs, India.
Sonafi Avantis ↓
Corporate Film shot for World leaders in Pharma- Sonafi Avantis. This is an awareness attempt against breast cancer. Directed by another friend Alka Nag. Shot over three days, in Mumbai. Few stills and shots in the beginning were picked from ‘stock’.
Sea Side Story ↓
This film is based on one of the biggest problem faced by the developing countries. Displacement of villages. People leave villages in search of new life in cities leaving all that belonged to them. The air, water and the people around them in village. This film is about the ideas about migration between two generations. Old roots don’t want to leave and new shoots want to search for new lights. This emotional story shows how emotionally traumatic this can be.
