His Bollywood debut feature Pink has become a watershed film on a woman’s right to say ‘no’. And now, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury — or Tony, as we know him better — is ready with a short film on water conservation. The intriguingly titled Baiju Bulli — Tony’s short for Nat Geo’s Mission Blue initiative — is all set to release on April 28.
In Mumbai last week, Tony unveiled the teaser of Baiju Bulli, in the company of fellow filmmakers Imtiaz Ali, Madhur Bhandarkar and Hansal Mehta, all of whom have lent support to the cause through their short films. Farhan Akhtar is the brand ambassador of the Mission Blue project.
“When National Geographic came to me with this project, I told them that I don’t want to make a preachy film… I want to make a sweet, poignant relationship film. It might work. They gave me the freedom to build the idea the way I wanted to,” Tony told t2 from Mumbai.
The script for Baiju Bulli is written by Tony and Shyamal Sengupta, who has collaborated with Tony on films like Antaheen, Buno Haans and Aparajita Tumi. “Ten minutes is good enough time to tell a story and there is a lot said in Baiju Bulli in those 10 minutes,” said Tony.
The film is centred on two young boys (Baiju, played by Aditya Pawar, and Bulli, played by Piyush Thakre) in a drought-stricken village whose only hope of getting water is the well in the house of the local sarpanch.
“The story is basically about the relationship between two kids and a bird. It’s a very optimistic film. It’s centred on the theme of water conservation. I have always believed that more than humans, animals and birds are far more instinctive when it comes to conserving our natural resources. Humans tend to take Nature for granted. The short is primarily based on this idea, but it’s absolutely a human story,” said Tony.
“If there is no water at home for even half a day, we all go mad. Just think of those villages in India who probably get half a bucket of water — and sometimes not even that — in a day! It’s up to every human to save water. This film says that, but we have put the message across in an entertaining way.”
Baiju Bulli has been shot in Mumbai and Karjat, on the Mumbai-Pune highway, and is produced by Tony’s wife Indrani Mukerjee with the music scored by his longtime friend and collaborator Shantanu Moitra. “We treated this short film like any other big project. Filmmaking is filmmaking… only the subject changes and sometimes the language, as has happened in this case. Every film has its own mise en scene and we had to create one unique to this film,” said Tony, whose first short film Debi — starring Ananya Chatterjee and Monali Thakur, and set during Durga Puja in Calcutta — won him praise.
“Short films have a bright future. In a very short span of time, people get entertained as well as educated through them. And for a filmmaker, making a short film comes with no burden or baggage… one can let one’s creative juices flow. There is no pressure of making (Rs) 100 crore!” signed off Tony.
Priyanka Roy
