Being one of the first few Indian filmmakers who chose crowd funding as a way to finance films, Pawan K Shrivastava is back with another crowd-funded film called “Life of an Outcast”.
The 90-minute film shows the plight of Dalits in India. The film revolves around a simple, uneducated Dalit who cycles through the tough situation from his village to the city of Lucknow for three days to earn money and get his son bailed, who has been sent to the jail because of a conspiracy hatched by the upper caste people of the village.
What was the inspiration behind touching this particular social thread?
My films have a combination of Iranian and Russian ways of filmmaking by showing realism in a minimal budget. Such films have always been my motivation.
I chose this particular topic because of two reasons. I am aware of the atrocities faced by the lower caste people and that the marginalised section of India is equally marginalised in Indian cinema too. Bollywood and Indie films these days do not cater to the rural India. Cinema is a mass media and 60% of the Indian mass is still in the rural areas. So, if it is excluding the 60% from the cinema, it is not Indian cinema; it is ‘urban cinema’.
What were the challenges faced while making the film?
The major challenge was to convince the actors to stay up the whole night for the shoot, and that too in winters and in such tough locations. I felt like I was not paying them much but was asking a lot from them. Planning the full film cost-effectively with keeping track of the limited time was also a challenge.
What impact do you want to create through this film?
Most of the urban people are unaware of the fact that casteism still exists. They are against reservations and think that there is no mass that is being oppressed. Atrocities on Dalits are on rise and I want people to have compassion for Dalits.
How will you take it to the audience?
My last film ‘ Naya Pata ’ could not reach the rural areas. So, I have planned that I will show this film to the rural audience first because the real audience of this film is living in villages. I will subtitle this film in 10 languages and will take this film to 500 villages in 12 states of India. I am starting this journey from September and have tied up with various organisations who are involved in screening. I will start the screening process from the village in UP where I have shot the film. For all of this, I would need money, for which I am sending this film to various film festivals now.
This film is relevant to every state because casteism is present everywhere in India. I hope it reaches all these places. It is the duty of the State but our State has not given me any source, so it is my responsibility to take my film to all these villages. After that I am planning to release this film on digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon.
What is the future of crowd funding in India?
Crowd funding is on rise but not for films. If you ask for funds for a social cause, for example an orphan, people will give money in the name of charity. Here, cinema is just taken as a mode of entertainment and people find it illogical to donate for entertainment. Their idea of entertainment is very limited. People should understand that entertainment is not ‘laughing’, it is ‘getting engaged’. Bollywood has corrupted the minds of audience but we do have a section of wise audience in India which is growing day by day.
