Prarambh – Aids Jaago Film
[PFC Note: AIDS Jaago is Mira Nair's project funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has four short films by four different directors. Mira's Migration, Vishal Bharadwaj's Blood Brothers, Santosh Sivan's Prarambh and Farhan Akhtar's Positive. Its currently doing the festival rounds. PFC will showcase all the four films here and will also try to get the directors on why and how of their story. And a big thanx to Shernaz Italia, producer of the film for letting us to showcase the films here. We are starting with Santosh Sivan's Prarambh. Thanks to Santosh who took time to relay his latest blog on the film in spite of being extremely busy in post-production of his new film. ~ phoenixnu]
| Click the picture below to watch PRARAMBH – the movie |
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Prarambh – Behind the scenes
the idea – when Mira Nair asked me to make one of the four films,we met at delhi, with alexander and aparijita from the melinda gates foundation. Later i accompanied aparijita to mysore, one of the many places they work. They are doing regular work there and have lot of info on the problems that people are facing there. The sex workers who are suffering from aids, people who have ostracized by the society, the stigma attached with the disease. i ended up spending time learning and understanding, before actually coming up with the idea.
story & characters – We have tried to show Prabhudeva’s character in such a way that common people can identify with him easily. Also because he plays the role of truck driver, who is more prone to the disease, many would think that the story would move around him. So, it was like a small twist when its revealed that its the kid who has the disease and not the truck driver.
the message – Since the film is targeted at people from various walks of life. So we thought if we go ahead with the kid, then people will start liking the kid even before knowing that the kid has aids. And then the disease will come later on. then you break the stigma attached to the disease. The motive was not to be preachy but to pass on the message in an entertaining and engaging way. Little bit of humour always helps.
working with kid – working with kid may be difficult if you dont know the rules. the thumb rule is not to order them around, just follow them around. Also, when you start doing things what they like, they will soon identify with you.
stars – Though the film is not very long but it has some big names. Prabhudeva, Ramya, Saroja Devi and they didn’t mind doing the small parts.
other films – i think all the films have something, thats very interesting and touches people, all the films do not tackle the same problems though they come under a common umbrella.
Tags: Gallery, Video
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Prabhu Deva shud continue acting !!!
Loved the movie Santosh!
loved the film sir.. only complaint is that the resolution seemed too simple and too quick, but i suppose you had a time constraint to pack it all in, and so with that in mind, i can understand why it is the way it is..
it’s too bad prabhudeva doesn’t act much anymore. thank you for making use of him in this one..
Thanks for posting the film here.
Great work Santosh.
Though all 4 movies are good, I like this the best. Kudos to you Santosh Sivan.
Santosh, will the AIDS JaaGo movies show before popular movies in cinema halls, as originally planned? Did they get shown together on Indian TV on Dec. 1 for World AIDS Day?
I saw all four shorts in November at the Indo-American Arts Council festival. I hope everyone will get to see these well made movies. It’s hard not to compare them, so I think I liked yours best because it was the most gently delivered.
This is a question I asked Mira Nair at the festival: The thread that appeared to tie the movies together to me, in addition to the topic, was that they all felt very intimately shot. Mira responded that she felt quite the opposite in that the cinematography was so very different for each. Do you see any stylistic harmonies, or is it wishful thinking?
It’s films like ‘Prarambha’ that make Cinema not only an exciting, but very relevant form of art too! Great story, nice performances and superb delivery of the intended message.
Best wishes Santosh….and the team that pulled it off!
Nicely done Movie,
the film is not getting downloaded on my comp:(
Nicely done, sir.
I actually saw this film on National Geographic along with the other Aids Jaago films.
Loved it.
The beauty of this film is that you don’t really have to understand the language. I first saw it on Indiafm without subtitles, and it had the same overwhelming impact on me. The kid is absolutely superb!
The production values and design is amazing.
The child is chow chweet…
With Mr. Sivan directing it would be silly to say brilliant frames and shots, its understood i mean.
However, i think, it is very verbose…too many dialogues..too much explanation…or it could be chota mooh badi baat.. I mean he is Mr. Sivan and I am nobody.
but I am very curious to know what is the targeet audience for the film. or for that matter for all the films that get made for AIDS and other causes… are they for the general viewing of the people around in the interiors in the villages. Are they going to be screened around in the villages individually in profectors, in railway stations, in hospitals, in local channels or are we only going to see them on the national geograhic channel and PFC.. and other elite screenings.cause all these audience are already aware about the effects and reasons etc of AIDS.
Thousands of films are getting made every year on the cause…but my point is are we taking it them to the right audience.. IS IT MAKING A DIFFERENCE…THE WAY IT SHOULD?
P.S white subtitles are merging with white bg.
Liked the film especially the child actor.but my first choice would be blood brothers.
Thanks for sharing this movie with us.
thanks for posting it here with subs.
I watched it on indiafm couple of weeks back. Didn’t understand a word :D but it was still so easy to understand the idea and the story.
I am waiting for someone to make a (short) movie on the scientific corruption surrounding the AIDS issue. (Of course it won’t find funding from any source.)
Also shouldn’t spreading awareness also involve educating people about what the disease is? the symptoms, the cause (as far as I know it hasn’t been proved that HIV causes AIDS and that brings us back to scientific corruption)
How many people know the definition of AIDS the way they know the definition of Tumor or tuberculosis?
Thanks that was a fantastic and effective short. I look forward to seeing the rest. It did remind me of the public service advt on DD with Shabana Azmi – aise toh sir pyar bhadta hai.
@Neeraja – as a scientist I could tell you that the causal link between HIV and AIDS is very clear.
this is the one film i hated the most…after m/s nair one…somehow the whole idea of keeping it for the common man didnt click with me specially..its just didnt seem like santosh sivan film (and i am talking from the little knowledge i have)..it was made like any other tamil or kannada flick with immense drama and emotion…i just wish it could be more humane…blood brothers concept was terribly brilliant ..but the excution lacked big time ..and why on the earth was siddarth overacting so much…farhan’s film was a really good flick..structure wise it was really simple..but it really clicked on the trauma side …and the acting was fabolous(i am still learning to spell!!!)
MY favorite after Blood brothers. I’m glad that the general tone of the film isn’t apologetic. Prabhu deva should consider doing more character roles. In any case, I disagree with “immense drama and emotion” notion that invariably gets attached, the film was sincere from what I perceive, and a film on AIDS couldn’t be without one, because the disease (and here, a kid at the end of it) triggers that subconsciously. So, it’s we who are manipulative of the disease, and not the other way around..
@tryptophan
you a medical scientist? can you give me references? I would really like to read.
Isn’t it true that raising questions about the view that ‘HIV causes AIDS’, proposing alternate hypotheses, wanting to do research to find alternative hypotheses were all suppressed in the US?
hi santosh,
i watched ur asoka when iwas i 11th standard then now aids jago in iffi,i was quite surprise to watch that film.u have sucsseced to make prbghudeva act superbli and also that littlle kid.one thing i must say screeenplay was superb.
hats off to you!
Hmm, Reminds me of something I ‘ate’.
The plot seems to be loosely based or ‘inspired’ by Takeshi Kitano’s 1991 film ‘Kikujir
Nice film..Pls put on the other 3 as well.
Good movie. Message is clear and well delivered.
Partho – Every alternate movie reminds me of something I ate. For many here, movies also remind them of something they threw up. So?
Siva you have completely understood and delivered the matter from within the heart of such a real child, defentely this would touch a human heart and in turn a large society who are unaware of the pain of those kids….
The word ThankYou is meant for such works
sir,
after Asoka and Terrorist
aids is not a subject worthy enough
ye to aapke liye bayien hath ka khel hai.
^:)^
“aids is not a subject worthy enough”
- pained to hear that AIDS is still not considered a subject worthy enough.
why AIDS is considered a subject worthy enough?
there are other diseases who cause more death than aids. on this account it is not on the top of the list.
it may erupt to an epidemic level.
it is yet to happen.
few years ago plague visited Surat.
that has happened, still how much emphasis is given on cleanliness outside surat.
have you ever come across an aids patient ‘really’ engaged in such exercises.
it is always the people who have not got hiv.
they can preach.
at the bottom. it is still the moral high ground.
those who don’t have hiv. has the moral highground. they can preach to others about aids. if any such preacher got infected with hiv himself. how much impact he would have.
deep down, everybody looks at an aids patient with contempt.
if you think that such deep rooted contempts, can be washed away with propaganda, than you must have liked Dharm, which is naive.
people blabbering about aids.
they are third great social activists.
buttering their ego by thinking that they are doing great service to humanity.
/:)
should propoganda be stopped.
no.. no..never
but their are people who are capable only of that.
let them do that, they are sufficient.
but to apply a much bigger talent on this is a wastage.
:((
why contempt
why common man look at a aids patient with contempt?
it has to do with the taboo ’sex’
in this society everybody has suppressed his sex. you and i both know the reason behind it. everybody has lived according to the conditioning. the conditioning is to deny life. don’t laugh, don’t dance, don’t fuck around.
these people are boiling within. they don’t enjoy life. and they console themselves buy the reasoning that this is the right thing to do.
when these people saw an aids patient. what is the first thing that come to their mind. :o this man has had more sex than they can even think of. :”>
he has enjoyed life. and his getting the disease is proof.
the contempt is actually jealously.
one doesn’t feel contempt for malaria patient. getting bitten by a mosquito is not something to be jealous about.
>:)
a thing about the propaganda
there are two aspect to it
1. practice safer sex
2. practice sex only with your spouse
how many people will listen to you. if you try to preach the second option. /:)
Appreciate the intentions behind the whole project KUDOS guys
Oy, the above misinformed rant is an excellent example of why these movies should be made and seen.
You don’t have to have lots of sex to contract HIV. You can have it just once with the wrong person. The person who gives it to you may not know they are sick, so it could even be passed on by someone with whom you are in a serious relationship.
Or, you can have zero sex and contract the virus through drug needle-sharing, unclean tatooing, blood transfusion (less often now), or being born to a mother with the virus.
Watch Mira Nair’s “Migration” for better information:
http://www.indiafm.com/broadband/video/Special-Features/qt16M539/3/Mira-Nair-s-Migration-On-AIDS.html
Here’s a succinct page on how people do and don’t contract HIV/AIDS:
http://www.coolnurse.com/aids.htm
- Thank Evelyn! I read two lines of the rant above and gave up. Thanks for getting the message across.
ok
so the movies are trying to show the various ways through one can get infected. just that!
my god
and i thought that by showing this they are trying to show that this is not always the patients fault. it is not the child’s faults.dont’ hate him.
because commonly it is believed that it is the result of pateinet’s fucking around. and hence he is looked at with contempt.
the story of the man who get infected by needle is just to show that a man can get infected by needles.
holy cow.
think of it, i thought that this story is trying to say to the viewer that don’t hate this man. he just got it accidentally.
man if my postings are not being read more than two line, or those who read can not get it. i should rather be somewhere else. :-h
i liked your movie. really nic.:)
TITAL: MANNAT ADDA HO
WRITTEN BY: SANTOSH BALA
JIS KHUSHI KAY LIYE HUM NOORE HAQ SAY MANGTEY HAI MANNAT,
JISKAY PANEY SAY HUMAARI ZINDGI HO JAAYGI JANNAT,,
PER WHO.. NOORE HAQ HUMEY WHO.. KHUSHI MANGNEY PER ADDA NAHI KARTTA HAI,,
KAHIN BIGAAD NA JAYYE MANGNEY KI ADDAT ISSAY DARTAA HAI/
USKAA APNEY BANDOO SAY EK GEHRAA NAATTA HAI,
US NOOREY HAQ KA NOOR SAMJHTEY-SAMJHTEY HI SAMJH ATTA HAI,,
JAB WHO.. HUMARI MANNTEY DENE PAY ATTA HAI,,,
TO HUMARAA DAAMAN SAMETTEY-SAMETTEY THAK JATTA HAI/
JAB WHO.. ACHAANAK HUMARI MANCHAHI MANNAT HUMEY ADDA KARTTA HAI,
TO DIL BADEY NAZZO SAY US NOOR KA SHUKRIYA ADDA KARTTA HAI,,
KYONKI WHO.. MANNAT HUMAREY DILDAAR KO PANEY KI HOTI HAI,,,
TAB ZINDGI POORI HOTI NAZAR AANEY LAGTI HAI//
TKS.
I am surprised to find the complete movie here. I had seen all the 4 movies before and was most surprised by Santosh Sivan’s one. Because if I hadn’t known its been directed by him beforehand, it wouldn’t have struck me at all. May be because in SS’ films his cinematography just stands out. I jsut know its a work of SS – a work of art.
But I guess this is a 13 minute film and its purpose too is different hence it was done so. May be. But I don’t regret seeing this film. There was a message for the audience and it was put across pretty effectively. Thank you for this SS. And yes, Prabu Deva can indeed act!
hi santhoshji,
excellent short film and great message!!!
story thread is moving cery fast….totally this ll change people….
we would like to have an awarmness program in dubai labour camps….. .
do you have this in different languages?
do let me know
if you would like to campaign our team will help for this for that call 050 8654878 dubai.
thankfully reby mathew
Hello Santhosh Uncle…I am Vinu from Puthuppally.Son of Sobha Murali (Sethuamma,Ambalapuzha).Saw Siv’s photo when i went to meet sivan perappan & saritha chechi.Cute….
Regards to Deepa Chechi too..
Now where are you?Which soot is going on?
Pls mail me :vinaymurali at gmail.com
Very few movies will be having the power to make u cry in 5 minutes, This one has..
Brilliant Stuff Sir,
Waiting to see similar brilliant performances in Halo 2.
Respected Sir,
We are a group of students from BMS Institute of Technology, Bangalore. We have been truly moved by your achievements both in the real and virtual worlds. Our institution is bringing out the 2009 edition of its annual college magazine MANTHANA and it would be an honour to us if the foremost page of the magazine could carry a message from you. We wonder if you could take a couple of minutes off and pen a sentence or few to motivate a thousand young minds who will read the magazine. We can be reached at manthana09@gmail.com.
With warm regards,
Akshatha Hegde
on behalf of student editorial committee
BMS Institute of Technology
Bengalooru