An Interview with Cyrus Dastur
The following post is an excerpt from telephonic interview with Cyrus Dastur. He is pioneer of short film club movement in India .He writes column for Mumbai Mirror, in addition to this he also acts and directs plays. He has acted in play such as God Said Cheers.Cyrus talks about Shamiana his short film club , there plans for expansion, the future of short films in India and about Bollywood.
How did Shamiana come into existence?
Well, we were always in short film club movement in country, from way back in 2000; Shamiana was formed last year in June 2008.
What exactly are Short films according to you?
Well short films are films of shorter duration, ideally between two to fifteen minutes. Actually there is no hard and fast rule for duration of short films; it depends on festival to festival. Short films are neither feature films nor tele-films.
Why short films?
I was always attracted towards the power of cinema. I had patrons and friends like Mahesh Bhatt, Raman Kumar; you know basically they wanted to screen short films that they had made. So it kind of started like this and the rest is history. We have screened more than 5000 short films in the last 8 years. It has been a huge body of work that we have screened.
Can you brief us about evolution of Short Film in India?
It is a very nascent industry; it is just 7 to 8 years old in India. People are still waking up to what short films are about, the reach and power of short films. We still have a long way to go.
Do you think Short films are gateway for future film makers?
I do not really like when people think Short films should be used a way to get into feature film. People ought to respect short film for medium they are.
What are necessary qualifications to make a short film?
There is no prerequisite, as such; you just to have known the basics of camera and how to tell a story.
How to overcome funding hurdle for short films?
This is a question most people ask me. See, short films are usually self funded. Funding of short films is not expensive. Some of the best short films I have seen are made at zero budgets, around 200 to 500 rupees. It does not make sense to waste time and energy to go to a financier for such low amount.
What is the current scenario of short films in India?
I think it is very good and promising, much more superior to mainstream films. India of course as country takes it cinema very seriously. On the whole, it looks interesting.
Do you think internet will play important role in promoting short films?
Internet is a very strong medium, if you shoot and post it on you tube, it can reach a wider medium .To reach more people for film maker internet would be best medium.
What need to be done to make better short films?
You need to keep making short films, actually you need not know jargon of film making, and you just need to be a good story teller. I have seen brilliant short films made on zero budgets-a good short film touches you and tells you a story in short time. Short films will go long time in educating people power of cinema. I feel we are still a cinema illiterate country. You know we think Kambakht Ishq or Love Aaj Kal is good cinema which is not the case. People wonder if 3 to 5 minutes are enough to tell a story. I think lot of these questions can be answered if people take 3 or 5 minutes of life to watch short films. I think the audience of the country also needs to- you know kind of get rid of stupidity and illiteracy in understanding interesting cinema. All said and done, in spite of having talent the support from government is not there. Take the example of country like Estonia for instance has budget of hundred thousand Euros for short films. Everybody is here for lip service; I wish there would be more support for short films.
What are the common mistakes people make while making a short film? How to avoid it?
I think the problem we face in India, is length of movie is equated with quality of film. People need to understand the duration of the movie is not a barometer of the quality. A Film may be of fifteen minutes, but may be boring and film may be of 3 minutes and will be interesting and vice versa. Lot of people try to elongate the duration of film, thinking that longer the film, more people will like it. People need to understand, the duration of film is decided by story.
What are future plans of Shamiana?
Lots of things to happen- we are thinking of getting into merchandise, distribution of short films and feature films, and home video entertainment. We are keen to open Shamiana, in Bangalore and Delhi Very soon. At present we have presence in Mumbai and Pune.
What are your plans to take the short Film moment into Rural Part of India?
There are talks, we did something with Bicycle project which was actually to support and spread awareness about NGO in rural area. We are trying to do our bit.
How does Indian short films fare compared to rest of world?
International short films are far more superior, they are shoot mostly on HD,16MM OR 35 MM cameras, whereas most of our shoot films are shoot on student camera or PD 170.Their short films are lot more professional, here professional means spending more money. Our films take beating techincally.They is genuinely good.
I personally feel short films will out do feature films, they have a better prospect , I do not mean this in economic terms, the problem with our country is everything is economic centric.
The short film makers are fresher, uncorrupted and use innovative ideas. The feature film makers are caught in fame rut and are commercial minded.
If Love Aaj Kal is the best film we are celebrating, then it does not really speak about the quality of cinema, I am not saying it is a bad film, but it is not great cinema or cinema at its best.
Special thanks to Sethumadhavan, for helping me with grammar and questions.
Tags: Cyrus Dastur, Interview, Love Aaj Kal, Mahesh Bhatt, Short Film
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WOW !! this iview comes truly as a surprise. Shamiana showcase amazing short films from all leading film festivals like Cannes etc.. in addition they provide a platform for aspiring filmmakers to show case their talents.. Its a delight to know Shamiana .. a introduction to the world of short films… and an amazing human being .. Cyrus !! Thanks Cyrus for the interview and introducing Shamiana to PFC !!
@ Cinemausher- nice initiative.we certainly need to showcase the efforts of people like Cyrus Dastur on PFC.Keep up the good work.
Great article, truly worth reading. Honest remarks on Indian cinema from Cycus Dastur makes it very interesting and informative. Looking forward to see more short films in future.
beautiful!!!!!i thot cinema usher died of swine flue but this post proves he is still alive………..long live cinema usher
@ cinemausher, nice work done, I had an idea about Shamiania , but came to know about Cyrus views more deeply through this blog,there’s one article by shekhar kapur on facebook which says that India is a developing country yet after more than 60 years of independence, so we actually look for money in all kinds of business, so I think more people will get more intersted in to short films when it generates revenue not similar but almost somehwhere like a commercial cinema as cyrus said Estonia has a big budget for Short films.But ya liked your contribution to PFC through this article ,keep it up dude
good and informative article about the short films. I myself have taken part in Shamiyana Film festival in year 2007 when my short travel film was nominated…
short films can be a good idea to start with… it can also turn out as one of your show reel you can also show it to the people from whom you except a job in the film industry… but lets talk about Independent Cinema in India… can we have something like that? can We have something like IFP (in America ) Having a independent producers association which aims and helps out to distribute the independent films in the market …
Again a great article.Shor5t films are the future.Keep it up cinemausher
@Sethu,
Thanks a ton again.
@Smita,
Thanks yup, i will definitely consider your suggestions, while writing next time.
@Atheist,
Thanks,I am alive and kicking,
@Rohan,
Thanks if possible paste he Shekar Kapur link here.
@Abhishek,
Thanks , yup independent cinema is will be way forward to go for quality cinema.
@Raj,
Thanks.
wah wah i like it…………keep going
Now this should generate more n more entries in short films, with only 1 clear thing in mind to come up with, simple and unique story telling.