Partho Gupte leaves you stunned with his impeccable knowledge about cinema. He chatted with K Bhardwaj
You don’t expect a 13-year-old boy to explain the techniques of filmmaking like a seasoned director, or how cameras and lights function during the shoots. But Partho Gupte defies every norm you set for children. At one hand, he cites American and Indian classics such as Pather Panchali as his favourites, on the other hand, he stuns you for his liking for ‘Rohit Shetty films’.
In free time, he listens to legends like Jim Morrison and Eric Clapton. “I use Internet a lot. I watch all the videos on the YouTube. Nobody guides me in my decisions. I make informed choices. Since I am a cine artiste, it’s great to be knowledgeable. I keep a watch on new techniques and trends,” he says.
While many would not know about their future course of action even after crossing a standard age, Partho has drawn a roadmap for himself. “I will study human psychology from St Xavier’s and that will be followed by a filmmaking course in New York University,” he tells us.
On working with his father in Hawaa Hawaai, he says, “It’s great because he is sweet and intelligent. He has great visualisation of his cinema. He makes us visualise the same so well that we wonder if we wrote that. The film is his baby and he has worked hard for it. He has been writing the story since 2007. More than me, he is thrilled to see his dream accomplished.”
The actor had to train hard for the role as he gave up skating long back but coaches and the ‘friendly director’ helped him climb the ladder. “I skipped school not even for a single day. We shot for four hours with two breaks. So there was nothing I had to compromise on. It was fun on sets as we used to create ruckus. There were lots of broken things lying here and there. Once we even fell on the eerie lights. But somehow I saved them,” he says.