One is an accomplished actor, a heart-throb of millions, with three Golden Globes and countless nominations to his credit.
The other is a schoolboy who started making films when he was in Class III and now the proud winner of two international awards.
Nothing could have brought Arnab Chatterjee of La Martiniere for Boys greater joy than when The Revenant star Leonardo DiCaprio announced his name as the winner in the Young Filmmakers category at the Texas Ultimate Shorts 2016 earlier this month. The only regret: he couldn't be present to collect the awards as he is busy preparing for his Class X exams, which begin in less than a week.
It's been a month of awards for the city boy as he also bagged the Honorary Award for Best Director Junior (under 25) Young Filmmaker and the Best of Festival Award for International Shorts Asia Jr at the Wendy's Awards in Chicago. Competing against 650 directors from 17 countries, Arnab became the youngest winner of the award for his film, Vertex Duo.
The 23-minute film is the story of a failed singer and an incompetent clerk, played by Arnab's schoolmates Rohan Basu and Srijan Chakrabarty, who audition for a stage show and perform together. "This is a story of two failed youngsters who are special in their own way. The message I wanted to send out is that everyone is born for a cause, a special cause."
Shot over two months, Vertex Duo features two of Arnab's schoolteachers - Kamal Dutta and Quentin Pope - and his friend from "the other side of Rawdon Street", Reeti Roy.
Arnab's love affair with films began early. "I started watching films when I was two or three. The moving images fascinated me," said Arnab. "The first film I remember watching was The Sound of Music. I would daydream about Austria and sing Do Re Mi in class."
Soon, the film buff started clicking pictures on his digital camera before graduating to travel videos. "We had gone to Shimla on a holiday and I shot a video of the breathtaking hills. That was the beginning. Soon, my travel videos became popular among family members and that encouraged me," said the boy with 20 short films to his credit.
From travel diaries to shorts was a smooth transition. One summer holiday when the heat proved too much for para cricket, Arnab decided to put his Nikon point-and-shoot camera to use. "Together with my friends, I scripted three stories in a day and decided to start shooting the next day. We successfully shot the film over two days and were elated with the result," said the SRK fan whose first Hindi film was Kal Ho Na Ho.
The Windows Movie Maker became Arnab's best buddy as the length of his films gradually increased, from four minutes to 10 and more. "I picked up Windows Movie Maker over a few days and I was no longer just the writer-director, but editor too," he said.
Some of Arnab's most memorable movie-making moments are from Durga Puja at the family's ancestral home in Cossipore. "I would team up with my cousins and shoot on my Nikon Coolpix. The five days of Puja were phenomenal, only and only because of my shoots! We even captured Durga in one of our murder mystery videos, with her fascinating trishul (trident). We shot late at night, just the day after shondhi pujo, where we focused on Mahishasura's bleeding chest to add to the mystery!" laughed Arnab, who loves watching thrillers himself and is a big Hitchcock fan.
Impressed, Arnab's father gifted him a Sony handycam and tripod. And with that Arnab started shooting with his school friends. "It was back in 2010 and every Friday, we would meet at a friend's house and spend hours shooting. This was also the time I moved to Pinnacle because I became hooked to post-production," said the 16-year-old.
Arnab has always been lucky to have the support of friends and teachers. Quentin Pope, Arnab's teacher and one of the actors in Vertex Duo, is all praise. "I taught Arnab literature in middle school and I have observed that he is a little genius. He is born with an extra-special gift and is definitely going to stand apart," said Pope, who loved working with his student. "The commitment with which Arnab directed us made me forget that he was my student and I started obeying him. I was clay in the hands of the director and he brought out the best in me."
For Kamal Dutta, the head of the biology department at La Martiniere for Boys, the experience of working in Arnab's film was "mind-blowing". "Arnab is an innovative thinker and a brilliant boy. He sees things in a unique way. During the shoot he was just like any other professional director," he said.
For classmate Rohan, Vertex Duo was all about having fun. "We can't call it working, we mostly joked around. Arnab is extremely technologically savvy. He is a lot of fun," said the young actor.
Two years ago, Arnab floated his own production house, ACjee Productions after a name given to him by friends. "Our first production, The Silent Killer, did well at the La Martiniere 'box office' and was selected at the International Children's Film Festival, Hyderabad, in 2013," he said. "Posters of my films were put up on notice boards and that was a major achievement."
Not one to rest on his laurels, Arnab is already planning his next film on the rising intolerance in India.
