Director Shubhashish Bhutiani’s Kush is making waves at the International film circuit and the short film is touted to be one of the best films on a true incident made in India. The young filmmaker speaks with Sangeeta Yadav about the making of this film
What is Kush all aboutIJ
Kush is a true story which I heard from my teacher in boarding school. When the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, causing anti-Sikh riots in the country, a teacher was fighting against odds to save one of her students. She was on her way back from a field trip with her class of 10-year-old students when the riots happened. How she struggles to protect Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, from the growing violence around him is the crux of the film.
Tell us about the castIJ
Shayaan Sameer is the actor who has played the role of a Sikh boy. When I saw him, I instantly felt he could do it. I knew his mother so it wasn’t hard to convince his mother. My father helped me cast the role of the teacher (Sonika Chopra) and my mother helped me find many children from her church who she gave tuitions to. Some of my friends knew actors, and we auditioned quite a few people. The film was cast on a ground level strategy, and it helped us in finding natural actors.
Was working with children a tough taskIJ
I love working with children. We relate to each other and they don’t take me seriously if I get angry at them. They’re very natural, they enjoy themselves and are full of energy. It rubs off on the crew in a positive way too.
How do you feel about Kush being selected by the Oscar Academy in the short-list of 10 live-action shorts, IJ
I’m ecstatic. It’s a huge honour to be in the top 10 itself.
What led to the success of KushIJ
The film is universal, and about something that not many people know about, so they would be able to connect to it. But it’s also about all the filmmaking elements coming together, and for that all credit goes to my team.
What kind of research went into the making of this filmIJ
I spoke to many people on their experiences, read a lot of books, and articles on that fateful day where lots of people lost their lives. That helped me in shaping the story of the film and creating the ambience. Rest everything fell into place.
Any memories from the making of the filmIJ
For five days the children goofed up, played games, and were playing pranks on each other. Another incident that will always remain with me was when we were shooting the bus moving through a landscape. We had my American cinematographer Mike McSweeney tied to the front of the car with a rope, with my dad driving the bus and me sitting next to him.
How and when your journey as a filmmaker startedIJ
I was involved in the theatre programmes at Woodstock School, as an actor and later as a director. Just enjoying the process so much, I decided to take up making movies, and went to film school in New York. But my journey started much earlier. I've loved movies ever since I've known them. It's been my most loyal friend.
What are the challenges you have seen in this fieldIJ
Every step on the way is a challenge. From trying to make the film to get people to see it, all this is itself a big challenge. But it's all worth it.
What are the latest trends you have seen in the field of world cinemaIJ
The internet is slowly replacing people going to the cinemas. Which I hope doesn't happen in India. And the quality of TV has the potential to outgrow movies. There are so many great TV shows out there that have budgets as big as movies, and amazing writing.
What all things inspires youIJ
I watch movies from all over the world, and many have impacted me in different ways. I love the books by Haruki Murakami, Michael Chabon, and Salman Rushdie. I go to a lot of music shows, and I actually love walking through photo exhibitions.