Ashok Sharan at a restaurant in Ranchi.Picture by Hardeep Singh

There was once a senior railway officer who wanted his son to be in the government service, like any other respectable Indian son. But unlike any other respectable Indian son, Ashok Sharan, preferred to run away to Mumbai to chase his celluloid dreams.

The only member in his family to be connected to films, Sharan has no regrets today.

The producer and director of ?Ulgulan-The Revolution?, a film based on the life, struggle and ideologies of the tribal leader Birsa Munda, considers himself a successful dreamer.

The 43-year-old man who has hundreds of documentaries to his credit, is now working on his next project, a commercial film named Dastaa, which will feature, among the Bollywood stars, the home minister of Jharkhand, Sudesh Mahto.

The Ranchi-born Sharan is better known as the director whose first film was penned by the veteran BJP leader and former coal minister Karia Munda.

But, the journey to success was never easy. The Radio and Doordarshan artiste had to work hard to make his place in the film industry

Among five brothers and two sisters, Sharan was the only one who developed an interest in films and theatre from an early age. Considering his talents to be god-gifted, Sharan recalls he started singing and acting when he was just in school.

He remembers he was there on stage on almost every occasion?Republic Day, Independence Day, annual day or drama competitions.

But the life changing moment came when National School of Drama held a three month-long intensive workshop at BIT-Mesra in 1981. At that time Sharan was a student of BA at the Doranda College. About 40 students participated in the workshop, but only three or four stood out. He was one of them.

Sharan had already resolved to make a career in films. After NSD director B.N. Shah complimented his talents and hard work there were no more second thoughts on the subject.

The enthused Sharan was looking for an opportunity to start his journey. It came his way in the form of friend Prakash Sinha who offered to jointly produce a documentary for the Films Division of India.

While pursuing his bachelors degree Sharan along with Sinha started working on the 35 mm documentary film titled ?The Degree?.

That was the beginning of an expansive career. The Degree took a long time to complete and in between Sharan produced many other documentaries with Sinha and other collaborators. He remembers his documentary on Sarhul that was telecasted on the the Door Darshan. His second documentary Paryavaran kee Raksha (The Safety of Environment) got both national and international appreciation.

After his successful stint at Jharkhand, Sharan shifted base to Delhi and started concentrating on on producing many more documentaries on tribal people and their culture.

It was after a while that he felt, deep in his heart that he was ready for a full-length feature film. And if a feature film was in the offing, could his second interest the culture and history of tribals be far behind?

Sharan had read a lot about Birsa and he was enamoured by the gallantry of the brave tribal revolutionary. ?Tribal people are essentially shy. Imagine the 25-year-old youth uniting an entire community against all odds,? Sharan says.

Fascinated by Birsa, the film-maker started to meet many people, talked to them. Sharan who claims to have produced the Rs 1.25 crore film with his own savings and with help from well-wishers, laments there was no government support. It was then that he met Karia Munda, who was a minister then.

?Karia Munda boosted my confidence. He talked about Birsa Munda and about the culture of the Mundas. He helped a lot. He seemed to be sentimentally attached to the subject and offered to write the story as well,? Sharan adds.

The family that was wary of his decision to join the films, today, supports all his endeavours. ?They learnt that I was stubborn,? laughs Sharan.

The man is busy as a bee. Sharan?s days begins with half-an-hour of Yoga exercises followed by 30 minutes of meditation.

sThen the highly religious man often spends an hour in prayers, but what refreshes him the most is his work.

A fan of Raj Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, Sharan watches the TV mostly to catch up with the news.

A visibly content man, he is now working on doing little something for the film and theatre aspirants from Jharkhand.

Though a dreamer, he is no impractical man.

His advice to the people who would like to follow in his footsteps would be to first assess themselves and then take the plunge into the world of dreams.

Anupam Sheshank