Nagesh Kukunoor’s latest short film is an inspiring story about the youth from rural India. He chatted with A Banerjee about his love for Rajasthan and how the state represents the diversity in culture
Nagesh Kukunoor is among a handful of those directors who have always stood out in Bollywood for their unique concept and storyline. The movie director has now come up with a short film titled Sapnon Ki Udaan as a brand campaign for &pictures. Sapnon Ki Udaan is set in Rajasthan, the location where Kukunoor keeps going back to, as he is mesmerised by the landscape’s grandeur. Rajasthan features in his many films including Dor.
After directing few feature films, shooting Sapnon Ki Udaan in Rajasthan was no coincidence. “It was a conscious decision made after considering the backdrop of the story and the kind of impact it delivers through depth of culture and rural attributes still prevalent in these times. The lure of the land keeps drawing me back to the place. I just love how the landscape lends itself for movie making with all its drama; wherever you see, there is a shot waiting to be captured.”
The opening of the short film makes it evident that the storyline is about the struggles of rural India and how the current generation is coping with it. lack of educational facilities coupled with day-to-day hardships result in migration to bigger towns and cities, and at times youngsters have to leave the country in search of a better life. The director says, “You can take an Indian out of India, but can’t take India out of an Indian. The story is of a guy who goes abroad to study and returns to his homeland with a scientific innovation, hoping it will bring change here. So the idea is not to preach but share how youth of the country, who once went abroad to pursue higher ambitions, are returning to be part of the change they have always wanted to see in India.”
Kukunoor has always dealt with issues close to his heart. “While making Hyderabad Blues in 1998, I was struggling with the issues of home. I could closely relate to the character as somewhere I knew what it felt like to be treated as an outsider in my own country,” he says. The changing mindsets of the Indian audience reflect the changes that every generation brings with itself. According to Kukunoor, “Every generation feels that it has brought change and that it has evolved into a better version of its previous self. But I feel what is important is we should all believe in this change and it is through this change that we find new things happening around us.”
As for the movie, his thoughts are very sentient as he describes it as “a very sweet little script that carries a huge message and intends to have a deep impact based on the Indian sentiment of seeing the future generation prosper and bringing the prosperity home, to reap the benefits of all the hardships one has gone through.”
The moral dilemma that seems to occupy most of the younger generation seems not to have affected the young protagonists of this short film. The instinctive way the father knows that his son will surely return is the drama the Indian audience needs to be reminded of in this era of practicality where most parents fear their children will never return and most of them never do.
“This is a journey of a young man who has found his way in the world and comes back home to his father, symbolising a tug in the heart and desire to bring the better life to people back home. An audience appreciation to this kind of subject in a movie shows the subtle evolution of the movie goers who not just take in the message but also believe in action,” Kukunoor says and ends on a note that the movie tries to spread a positive message, without being preachy.