AZAD ALAM
Much like the meaning of his name filmmaker Azad Alam is a free spirit. His film All is Well is a whacky tale of two young men pushed to the brink of compulsion in their quest for fun and easy money. Their misadventures on this path are the stuff of this approximately 11-minute long feature. Kunal and Debu have artistic aspirations and turn to illegal betting (festered by the IPL hoopla) to fund their work. They lose big time and are faced with the unenviable task of paying back the loan shark to avoid dire consequences. Desperation leads them to become male prostitutes. Their first client is (no prizes for guessing!) a bored housewife.
After taking money from her the two men are struck by pangs of guilt. They decide that it is best to return money earned by such means. When they reach her house they are shocked to learn that she is in fact the wife of the moneylender himself. It is further revealed that the moneylender is also a match fixer. While Kunal and Debu fear the implications of this, the creditor is concerned about his reputation getting tarnished if word gets out that he is into match fixing. He decides to pay off Kunal and Debu (under the guise of being a supporter of young artistes) in return for their silence. Although this may not conform to traditional Indian notions of a cinematic happy ending, the film was quite a crowd pleaser at the festival.
Life in Delhi
Director Azad hails from Begu Sarai district of Bihar. He moved to Delhi for higher education and went on to earn a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Delhi University. Financial compulsions made him work in a BPO while pursuing his degree. He then enrolled for a course in still photography at the Triveni Kala Sangam. This was followed by a year of work as a freelance market researcher for a private firm. In 2008 he joined the L.V. Prasad Academy for Film Making in Chennai. All is Well was produced after two years of training.
Azad says, “As a writer and director I am extremely possessive of my lines. It was heartening to see the cheery response from the audience to my film. I am glad I have made an attempt to create mainstream style entertainment. It is a very conscious choice.”
Asked about his plans he replies, “I am working on four scripts. Getting finances for my projects won't be easy. Publicity for smaller films is another concern. Despite some recent improvements, the Hindi film industry is still largely unorganised.” Be that as it may, the edge of determination in Azad's tone suggests that he is here for a long haul.
OLENA SHATOKHINA
Life is clearly a dance of discovery for Olena Shatokhina from Ukraine. She is a trained dancer in diverse forms (the Russian ballet, Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam) and her short film Devadasi was screened at the recently held India International Youth Film Festival. Shatokhina explains to the uninitiated, “The term devadasi literally means ‘woman who serves god'. In this tradition girls would be ‘married' and dedicated to a religious deity or temple. Originally, in addition to this and taking care of the temple and performing rituals, these women learned and practiced classical Indian artistic traditions. Later a change in the Indian socio-political landscape led to many of them becoming destitute and being sexually exploited.”
Her film is set in 1839 in rural South India. It is the story of a five-year-old girl called Nandini who is left alone when her mother (a devadasi) dies. Vulnerable and uncared for she is later married off to a much older Brahmin priest. Nandini also has close ties with a young man whom she has known since childhood. Straddling two worlds and torn between romantic love and the sanctity of marriage, she commits suicide. Says Olena, “The film is as much a celebration of dance as it is a critique of repressive social norms.”
Ukraine to India
Olena (Laxmi) was born and brought up in Ukraine. She began figure skating at five and at the age of seven joined the School of Fine Arts at Kiev. Here she was selected to join the professional children's dance troupe Kiyanochka and travelled all over Europe. In 1997 she came to India to study classical dance and miniature painting. She joined the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai wherein she was trained in Kuchipudi dance, Carnatic music and Sanskrit.
After this she went back to Ukraine to her old interest — Russian ballet, and graduated from the Choreographic College in Kiev. In 2006 Olena opened a dance school in Ukraine to teach Kuchipudi. During this time a chance encounter led her to discover a new passion — Indian cinema. So, she came back to India and completed a two-year post graduation diploma course in movie direction at the LV Prasad Film Academy in Chennai.
One of the striking aspects of Olena as an artiste is how seamlessly she blends myriad forms of creative expression. Her film is about a dancer and her dance is inspired by the Indian cinematic tradition. Using Russian classical ballet and Kuchipudi styles of dance, and a narrative that is in equal parts Hindi and English, she has created a colourful music video. The ambitious danseuse is currently working on a feature film script that will have an international canvas with elements of the delightful worlds she inhabits. Clearly, Olena Shatokhina is more than the sum of her parts.
