The children’s theatre festivals have become regular events for the little filmy buffs of the city. The children are enjoying the movies being screened at the fest as they are not lengthy movies and also the animated movies are capturing the attention of the children.
On Thursday, two movies were screened at Antarang Hall, Bharat Bhavan.
Movie Ballu Shah was screened first. Directed by Rajesh Aggarwal, the 21-minute flick is an animated movie. The movie is about a miser Ballu Shah.
Ballu Shah, a born miser, gets trapped in a tree. He promises god to feed a Brahmin in lieu of his life. To fulfill his promise, he chooses Kankidas, a poor Brahmin, who he thinks has a poor appetite. He instructs his wife to give him a meal and goes out to run an errand. Seizing the opportunity, Kankidas tricks the wife into making food for 10 men. He also takes four gold coins from her.
A furious Ballu Shah rushes to the Brahmins house to teach him a lesson. Anticipating this, Kankidas has a plan ready to fool Ballu Shah further.
Another movie, Mujhse Dosti Karoge is a heart touching one. The 96-minute movie is directed by Gopi Desai.
Nine-year-old Gul Hasan lives in the desert of Rann of Kutch. Its extreme variations of temperature, absence of water, open sandy plains with no vegetation, its sand storms and cracked and parched earth, provide the inert background to Gul’s dreams, hopes and aspirations.
The natural environment along with urban and modern influences and happenings has a great impact on his mind, which become the take-off point for his fantasies. Gul’s journery slips from reality to fantasy to reality.
The film has won many awards globally, including Best Children’s Film at the 40th National Film Awards in 1993.
Ballu Shah’s screening evoked a satisfactory response and the audience loved watching the movie.