The road to Cannes

John Romeo’s 'Nila Vaanam Kaatru Mazhai', a short film on honour killings, will be screened at the prestigious film festival in France later this year.

April 20, 2015 08:20 pm | Updated April 24, 2015 11:35 am IST - Chennai

A scene from the filming of Nila Vaanam Kaatru Mazhai.

A scene from the filming of Nila Vaanam Kaatru Mazhai.

When John Romeo, a professor at Madras Christian College, decided to send in his production as an entry to the Cannes Short Film Corner, he was praying for a miracle. And Nila Vaanam Kaatru Mazhai was the answer to that prayer.

The short film on honour killing, which has been produced and directed by John, will be screened at the prestigious film festival in France later this year.

The idea for the film came up during a discussion in John’s class on media effects and cultural studies last year. “My students and I were having a debate on love, and that led to a conversation about caste and honour killings, as it had been in the news at that time. They were quite upset about it and asked me, ‘Sir, how is it our fault? We know nothing about caste; it is not relevant to us and we don’t care about it either.’ Since I also teach filmmaking, some of the students who were interested came up with a storyline and we decided to make a film,” he says.

It started as a small project, with pre-production beginning in August 2014 and filming in December. This was the second short film for the 28-year-old, who is an alumnus of Loyola College.

Earlier, he had directed a short film on abortion. “I’ve a strong sense of social ethics instilled in me by both Loyola and MCC. So I wanted to use this medium as a tool for change; this is what we teach as well, so it’s great that so many of my students have been a part of this,” he says.

Praveen James, Dharani Daran, Tufail Ahmed, Kojo Hem, Tharunya Thimmaiya, Karyl Netilda, Kewyn Fredrick, Arun Raj, Tharun Kumar, Supraja Prasad and Ramani, all second-year students of Visual Communication in MCC, were involved in the production. Fareen Ashaan and Bernard Chen, also students, play the female lead and a strong supporting role, respectively.

The film also has actor Benito playing the male lead and veteran theatre trainer Jayarao as the girl’s father.

“For several months, these boys and girls had been staying out late, much to the annoyance of their parents. Some even suspected that they were simply hanging around. Now that the film has got a chance to be showcased on a global scale, they are the ones who are very proud,” says John with a laugh, recounting some of his students’ woes at being misunderstood at home.

In any case, they have been spurred by this success and are already working on the script for their next production, a movie which will be on cinema itself.

John produced the film with his savings, and feels that more young filmmakers should do the same. He says, “It is good to work at something you love and save up money to produce your own films. It’s hard work, but also very convenient when it comes to creative freedom. Now many short films are imitating feature films, and very few take an alternative route. I am glad to be one among those few.”

Being at the Short Film Corner will give John a chance to network with institutions, financiers and important international representatives in the film business, and he is looking forward to the experience. “It’s all very exciting,” he says, adding that he can hardly believe it, but is getting prepared nonetheless.

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