A Dalit family fighting oppression may be all too real in 21st century India, but putting it to reel is no easy task.
So Chhapra resident Pawan K. Shrivastava has taken the crowd-funding route for his film, Life of an Outcast, about a Dalit man who is banished from his village for marrying a girl of his choice and refusing to send his wife to a member of an upper caste family on her first night post-wedding.
Actor Ravi Bhushan Bharti of Paan Singh Tomar fame plays the protagonist.
Crowd funding means collecting money for a project by articulating an appeal and circulating it on social media so that people who support the idea can pitch in to help it see the light of day.
There are specialised websites for such funding, such as Ketto and Kickstarter, but Shrivastava has been circulating his appeal on Facebook and Twitter, and his website www.studiosarvahara.com.
Shrivastava, 36, has been shooting his 90-minute film, which he wants to subtitle in 10 Indian languages and screen in 500 villages across India. But before that, Shrivastava needs Rs 4 lakh to complete the post-production.
He is not a green horn when it comes to crowd funding. His first film, Naya Pata (costing Rs 8 lakh and released in 2014), was also financed through that route.
"PVR had released my first film Naya Pata," Pawan said over the phone from New Delhi. "I feel sorry that I could not screen it in villages. The rural folk were its real audience, but we couldn't take the film to them."
To make amends, he is planning "a world premiere in the village where we shot" Life of an Outcast.
"I need Rs 4 lakh to complete the post-production work," Pawan said.
"We are making the film without a producer. Bollywood films have forgotten villages because the market is urban. I want to make villagers feel privileged so I have decided to screen it in the villages first. We have collected Rs 42,000 in seven days from 32 people across the country and one from Canada.
"We have completed the shooting with our money now it's the turn of the people to help the film see the light of the day. It would be a gift to the rural India," he added.
Mumbai-based film critic Gaurav Sharda Rai has donated Rs 10,000.
"In today's world, films are mostly based on individuals but this film is based on the marginalized section and I believe it has the potential of going far. That's the reason I donated money to the film," Rai said.
Among crowd-funded films that have made a mark are filmmaker Onir's My Brother Nikhil (2005).
Onir's second film, I Am (2010), also made through crowd funding, won two national awards including best Hindi film and best lyrics.
