Excerpts of Arin Paul's interview for Iran’s 16th Resistance International Film Festival, 2020

Excerpts of my interview for Iran’s 16th Resistance International Film Festival, 2020: http://moqavematfilmfest.ir/en/News/231/Indian-filmmaker:-Wear-Mask,-Wash-Hands,-Maintain-Social-Distancing .

Azaadi Virus Se (Freedom From Virus) selected as The Official Selection at The Festival, Tehran, Iran, 2020 in the “Health Defenders” section.

Watch Azaadi Virus Se on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KMJ1Rx49jFI .

INDIAN FILMMAKER: WEAR MASK, WASH HANDS, MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING

Monday 21st of September 2020 12:01 PM

Paul graduated from the Asian Academy of Film & Television (AAFT), Noida, India in the year 2002. He started his career as an assistant director in Delhi and has assisted many film-makers in Delhi and Kolkata. He debuted as a Feature Film Director in a Bengali movie in 2008. He was also responsible for the concept and the story of the film.

Iran’s 16th Resistance International Film Festival has held an interview with Arin Paul, an Indian filmmaker.  

The excerpt of the interview follows:

Paul graduated from the Asian Academy of Film & Television (AAFT), Noida, India in the year 2002. He started his career as an assistant director in Delhi and has assisted many film-makers in Delhi and Kolkata. He debuted as a Feature Film Director in a Bengali movie in 2008. He was also responsible for the concept and the story of the film.

He has been working on various projects such as web series, short films, documentaries, video documentation, corporate films, commercials (ad-films), television and others. He has made films for esteemed organizations such as Kolkata Traffic Police, Handi-Care International–Canada, Anandabazar Group (ABP Digital), Amar Seva Sangam, Development Action Society, TERI, USAID, Coca-Cola, TVS Credit, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Reliance Energy – Mumbai, FOSMI and others.

He was awarded the 'Rotary Youth Achiever of The Year (2008)'. His short film “Aehsaas” on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan won the “Certificate of Excellence” from National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India in 2017. Quite a few films made by him have been screened at various film festivals all over the world.

Question: Please tell us about your film. How and why you made it?

Answer: “Will Power, Determination and Unity had led to our Independence. This Independence Day Let Us Once Again determine to unitedly defeat our enemy. Wear Mask, Wash Hands and Maintain Social Distancing. Let's Break the Chain... Not the Bond.” That’s the theme of our film, ‘Freedom From Virus (Azaadi Virus Se)’ which was an effort made for Indian’s Independence Day (which falls on 15th August every year) this year. We made the film to make our citizens aware of the usefulness of the guidelines to be followed for safety from the virus.

Q: Which fact was the primary motivation for you to make a film related to the Coronavirus pandemic and doctors' and nurses' efforts as pioneers in defending people's health?

A: India was in a state of lockdown from 25th March’20 and the country’s citizens went in to a state of shock and disbelief all this while as the virus was spreading all over. It was then that we all learnt to stay safe by wearing masks, using hand sanitizers and keeping maintaining social distancing. Though, sadly we found that as the lockdown was given severe relaxations people were not following the basic guidelines. Hence, we (specifically, Ananya Arin Paul) came up with the idea and the film was given a shape.

Q: What is the most noticeable or memorable thing regarding the process of making this film during a pandemic?

A: In this project the most memorable thing was the briefs to the sketch artist. The hours we spent over phone. He (Shiladitya Ghosh) was located some 2000 kms (in Kolkata) from us (Mumbai) and yet it was no hindrance in the process.

Q: What subject would you choose if you want to make another film about the pandemic after controlling this virus's spread?

A: India saw a wave of migrant laborers’ movement from big cities to their villages, towns amidst lockdown. We came across umpteen stories of humanity all this time. People walking in extreme heat for 900-1200 kilometers and yet happy. The struggle of all these children, women and men make for an intense humanitarian film which I would love to capture. One particular story that just came to mind is the journey of a young girl by a bicycle to bring her father back to village. She cycled almost 1000 kms. Incredible. There are so many more such incidents of joy and agony which can be brought forward.

Q: Let us be a little reminiscent as the last question; if you had a choice to choose only one person to watch your film in the cinema, who will be your choice? And who do you want to give your film as a gift?

A: None other than the master craftsman, legendary filmmaker, Late Shri Ritwik Ghatak.

 

Brown Blistering Barnacles!!! The Case of Changed Sandal.

 

It was a perfect Monsoon Sunday morning with continuous down-pouring and as usual our society dog, Doosra (I call him by that name as he spends his day at our second floor) was lazily sleeping outside our door, perhaps inhaling the smell of the delicious breakfast, getting prepared in my kitchen.

My usual morning chore was to get the daily dose of the headlines from the newspaper, when I decided that it was the day, I am ought to complete a long pending task - cleaning the shoe rack. Thanks to the lock down, hardly any shoes were of use except one daily wear Sandal (chappal). Post my breakfast of, Aah!!! Some delicious Paratha with Egg – Potato special Tarkari (Dry Curry), and a cup of coffee, it was now time for some action.  I opened the shoe rack and slowly started dusting and arranging, and being carefully observed by Doosra, who in fact callously sat and enjoyed seeing me go through all this hardship, keeping a cautious distance from the dust. 

Anyway, to my relief the rack was done, clean and clear, shoes shining. Finally, the pending stuff was now complete. I was about to go for a bath when my eyes suddenly caught on an astonishing sight. To my utter shock I noticed that the left pair of my sandals (the regular wear one) looks different in the sense that its exactly identical to the right pair with the logo, design even the size intact but the colour. God knows how, the left pair has turned a darker BROWN while the right pair is still of the pastel shade of skin and I was damn sure it cannot be mine; it wasn’t mine of course.  

Now, had it been the second half of the day, I could have still justified a reason for my delusion (ahem! the weather definitely was promising for a peg or two but I was behaving myself). Poor me, this was some bizarre coincident! Seems, the saga of the conspiracy of my missing footwear continues.

It was one fine evening a few years back, after wrapping up my days’ work at Malad, I decided to seek blessings of the famous Lord Icchapurti Hanuman Ji. The temple was nearby only, just a few blocks away. So, I went inside, apprehensively slipping away my favourite shoes at the designated spot. Let me say, I am a bit picky about my footwear (everything actually, and I feel a lot pain to part way from them). For the past 10 years I had been accustomed to the comfort of a particular brand, which is a bit expensive but worth the money. A man was sitting nearby with a blank face, staring at everyone including me, as if he was in a trance. Trying to dismiss all the ominous warnings playing inside my mind with certainty that I have placed my shoes at the safest corner (according to me), I, even turned quite a few times to check on my shoes and was relieved to find them untouched. But by the time I returned, my shoes were gone and so was the man. And then the flower vendor showed me the WARNING NOTICE hanging on the gate, ‘Be careful of footwear as the Temple Management is not responsible for missing footwear’.

I was irritated and sad and moreover I will have to return all the way home either barefoot or buy a new pair.

Adding to my misery, my friend (whom I called up to share my pain) concluded the whole mishap to be rather a divine intervention, having my shoes being stolen from a religious place, indicating Good fortune was imminent.

Well, the only divine thing happened that I could remember was, I had to shed some bucks unnecessarily to get a new pair of shoes from a nearby store, which was obviously neither my brand nor my choice.

Coming back to my current misery, this time, my sandal was replaced from none other than my very own home, that too during the lockdown period when visitors were not even coming. I was determined to solve the mystery behind my misery this time. So, like ‘Chase the Virus’ agenda, I started ‘contact tracing’ in my mind.

Well, I had gone to the market yesterday.  But of course, I didn’t slip the left sandal out of my feet and exchanged with a stranger on the road, neither did I enter any sanctuary to get it misplaced with the exact same one with a different colour.

A divine intervention indeed again, I felt for sure, when suddenly I recalled of the two engineers who had visited my place a day before to repair my internet connection. Is it one of the guys, who by mistake slipped into one of my pairs, leaving his behind? Both me and Ananya were sure that the goof up happened by one of them only, though it was weird that he had exactly identical pair like mine but the colour. Happy and confident with my deduction, I immediately called up one of them to find out if that’s the case. But no, not at all. Alas, again, another missing footwear, ‘Blistering Barnacles’!

But wait, that was not the end of my ordeal!

After three days, I was supposed to go out for some reason when to my surprise, I found my good old pair was there! It was puzzling... shocking... how was it even possible?

Well, after a few moments of blankness, a thought suddenly struck me and well yeah, I solved the case instantly. On Saturday, I had gone to the market and somehow the left pair of my sandal got wet. I didn’t notice that. The soft velvety texture turned dark due to water and it was not dry by next day, thus reflecting a BROWN colour. And thus, the whole confusion of the misplaced sandal and the reason of my silly agony.  Now, after three days, the sandal was completely dry and to my delight had gone back to its usual colour. Eureka!!!

Thank God!!! I had not thrown them away immediately!!!