The Children’s Hindi film Chota Sipahi was screened on Tuesday under the Film Bonanza event. The film was screened at St George school, Bhopal. It is to be noted that the Film Bonanza is an eight-day long film festival being organised by Children Film society of India (CFSI) for the school students. All the movies being shown in the film festival are made by CFSI and are based on social issues, dreams and aspirations of kids.
Chota Sipahi is a movie that showcases a huge bravery by a small kid Jose. Directed by Jayashree Kanal and AS Kanal the movie has the running time of 88 minutes. Notably, Jayashree debuted as a director with the film ‘Kaat Kaat Kad Kaddu’ for CFSI and followed it up by co-directing Chota Sipahi. AS Kanal has worked as a teacher of cinematography at FTII and currently he is working as an independent producer and trainer.
The movie won Best Child Artist award at 52nd National Film Awards India in 2005. It also won Best Theatrical Feature Film (Foreign Category) at 38th Annual Worldfest, Houston International Film Festival USA in 2004. The movie surrounds the life and aspiration of a young boy Joze. He is a young Goan boy growing up during the freedom movement of the State in the 60s. Though young and thus expected to remain ignorant of the political winds brewing all over, he becomes acutely aware of the grave injustice everywhere and the sacrifice made by those around him. This instills in him a sense of responsibility that becomes instrumental in saving many lives during a crucial military operation.