Movie by Kanpur students floors www audience and Narendra Modi
KANPUR: Almost a year ago when this bubbling-with-exitement, yet mature band of eight boys and girls put their heads together, mulling over an idea around which their movie - part of the project for an annual award function - would revolve, little had they imagined, that by the end of 2010 they would be celebrities in their own right!
With almost 2,00,000 views of their inspiring video 'Last Option', which exhorts youngsters from refraining to take extreme steps like suicide, this group Octopus (named as the team has 8 members and the animal has eight tentacles) is a rage on the youtube.
And the six-minute video, which has an interesting story line of a young boy sick and tired of being chided for studying attempts suicide and goes through a lot of books to thrash out the right way of suicide, tells at the end how this boy lives on on the credo: if I can study to die, why can't I study to live, has impressed even the chif minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.
He was so impressed by the video that he posted it on his official website http://www.narendramodi.com and goes on to write:“Friends, today’s age is that of learning rather than teaching. In this context watch a small video clip here. I like it very much. I hope you too will like it.” Plush with the interest it has generated Pankaj Kushwaha, one of the directors of this clip told this news portal that when they started all that they wanted to do was to tell a compelling story on this malice of modern day world.
The response thopugh surprises them, the team airs a sentiment of satisfaction at the fact that there theme was well taken. When asked if the topic of suicide had any personal experience related to it, Pankaj replies in affirmative and in fact admits that at some point of time he too had contempated giving up his life. "It occured to me on one occasion that giving up life was a better option than all the study etc but then I lived on" he muses.
Last Option is completely directed, scripted, produced, captured and edited by ‘Octopus’, by this band of youngsters and has bagged other laurels too - the clip stood second runners up at the Frame Flicks award held at Goa in May 2010. The Octopus group comprises of Harneet Kaur, Pankaj Kushwaha, Arzoo Nishi, Harsh Agarwal, Khyati Singhal, Dharmesh Singh, Asna Nikhat and Deepak Rathore, all students of animation and visual effects at Frameboxx Institute, Swaroop Nagar.
They have received an award at Goa at the hands of film director Sanjay Gadwi and now the film is being sent to film festivals like ‘Aahan 2011' and an international film festival to be held at Chennai. And charged up with the flood of goodwill and appreciation that the film has generated, the Octopus is now planning to produce eight different movies included a live action movie, a 3-D animated movie and a corporate film this year.
Elaborating on the clip, Deepak, another team member says, what differentiates this clip from others movies made on the subject of suicide is its positive climax, which could inspire youngsters and prevent them from taking the extreme step. “Every movie or documentary made on the same subject has a painful end like the scene in three idiots when the boy hangs himself. But we thought that giving up one’s life is not the solution. People search so many ways to commit suicide, why don’t they utilize that time to do something productive. This was why we showed a happy ending,” avers Pankaj.
The team is also extremely thankful to Abhinav Singhal, head of the institute, who they say has been a pillar of support to their endeavours.
