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Here’s an exclusive interview, by Mahima, of the independent writer-director Tarun Jain whose short film, Amma Meri, has got the honour to be screened at the IFFI, Goa. A thought-provoking film on how aging elders of the family are pushed to the margins. Read more in the weekly column, exclusively in Different Truths.
Mother is the pivot of our being and existence.
Mother is the epitome of all emotions.
But when it comes to adverse circumstances, do we really treat the mother in a respectful and caring manner – the way this epitome of love deserves to be treated?
The short film Amma Meri (My Mother) exposes some of the darkest emotions of human beings driven by extreme circumstances. The film, in fact, is a question mark on the modern society driven by greed. It forgets the sacrifices made by mother – be it our mortal mother or the Mother Earth.
The film is the dilemma of a middle-aged farmer, Balram, who is going through an agrarian crisis. His daughter Rashmi is of a marriageable age, but he doesn’t have money for her wedding. Struggling for money, he happens to know through a bank agent that certain deposits his deceased father made before his death, will be his inheritance only after his Amma’s (mother’s) death. Capturing a tough socio-economic life, that too with limited dialogues, Amma Meri brings out the darkest of the emotions.
The film’s climax leaves your senses numb. No wonder the film has made it to the ongoing India International Film Festival (IFFI) being held in Goa. It will be screened under the Indian Panorama’s non-feature category.
Here’s my interaction with Tarun Jain, a promising writer and an independent director of Amma Meri. Tarun’s debut directorial venture, Akhir, had won six International Awards. He has high hopes for Amma Meri as well.
Mahima: Reality-based cinema in a time when fiction sells best. How did the idea of doing this film come to you?
- Amma was played by Devki Rani. She had acted in a few videos earlier. To see her perform with so much of enthusiasm at this age was very much encouraging for the whole crew. Given her age, she was very active and was very keen on improvising every scene wherever necessary. It would have been hard to pull the climax scene, which was shot on the highway. But, with her vibrant energy, she made it quite easy for us to pull it. She was fabulous.
- Anurag Arora, who played the lead cast Balram is a complete director’s actor. I had to just give him a situation and he came out with the best expressions. What else can a director ask for!
- Rashmi (Balram’s daughter) enacted by Diksha Lamba stands out both as a convincing lover as well as the rebel, giving the twist to the tale at the end.
Tarun: Amma has just begun her journey. It opened with International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. And now, it is being screened at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the most prestigious film festival in India and a leading one in the world. I would definitely like to explore the European festival circuits as there are so many avenues and a lot of exposure for short filmmakers.
Tarun: Like any work, this too had its share of struggles. The most significant would be the time it took to be made. We were ready with a cut at the end of 2015. If I wanted I could have stopped there and started working on my next project. But, I took time to dig deeper into it to bring out the best over two years. The second aspect of struggle is the fact that in terms of short films in India, we still have a long way to go. Amma Meri was solely made with my own money. I had to manage everything on my own.
And Tarun leaves me engrossed in my thoughts about a different truth of the society: a man doesn’t think twice about spending crores on his daughter’s wedding. On the other hand, another is waiting for his mother to die so that deposits in her name might come to his purse to meet his family needs. A brutal truth!
Amma Meri was given a special mention in the ‘Hot Films in the Making’ list during a pitch session by a US-based production company.
All I can do is hope that the silent, heart-wrenching cry of Amma Meri reaches the ears of the policymakers of the country to meet the needs of our debt-ridden, dying farmers and dying farming.
Best wishes to Amma Meri from all of us in Different Truths.
Check the trailer of the AMMA MERI on YouTube:
© Mahima Sharma
Photos sourced by the author from the filmmaker
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