A baby’s shirt pocket is a world of wonders, the place they hold an assortment of valuables, from pebbles and marbles to cash and scribbled notes. The protagonist of the brief movie, Khisa, which is part of the Indian Panorama part of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), being held in Goa until January 24, goes a step additional — he will get an extra-large pocket stitched to his shirt. What ensues is a melee that highlights the schisms in society during which even historic figures of the nation are commercialised and appropriated. The movie is the debut of latest visible artist Raj More who, within the early Nineteen Nineties, was dwelling in Pune, coaching to be an artwork trainer, and dreaming of the day he may break by means of social obstacles of his personal.
“The whole story revolves around the shirt. The child is proud of his pocket. It sets him apart from others his age, whose pockets are not only smaller but also ordinary and similar to each other. The little boy does not understand the politics of symbolism that adults engage in, and his pocket soon becomes a point of contention amongst elders in the village. This story of a loss of innocence and coming-of-age of a young boy, is ironically, symbolic of the times we live in,” stated More.
The filmmaker added that he was planning to work on a special movie and had known as Kailash Waghmare for casting. “He told me that in his village there had been an incident of a child who had attempted to stand out from the crowd by wearing a shirt with an unusually large pocket. I realised that this was the story I wanted to tell and Waghmare wrote it,” stated the director. Waghmare performs the daddy of the kid within the movie.
A nonetheless from the film Khisa. (Photo: Raj More)
More searched by means of his village in Akola in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha, to search out the lead for the movie. Vedant Shrisagar, who performs the younger character, research in a small college and was new to performing. “While all the other actors have experience in theatre and performance, Vedant was a raw talent. I worked with him for two months and critics have lauded his performance,” acknowledged More, including that he shot the movie totally in Akola.
The filmmaker is extra well-known as an artist, as somebody who makes highly effective feedback on socio-economic and cultural realities resembling capitalism by means of his works. He graduated from Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai in 1999, and has participated in exhibitions internationally, resembling “B4Mumbai” at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, and the Busan International Art Fair offered by LVS Gallery, Seoul in South Korea. He received a National Award for the 54th National Exhibition of Art organized by Lalit Kala Academy in Delhi, 2012. “I used to make frequent trips to Mumbai, from Pune, to view exhibitions and watch films. I began to watch world cinema at festivals. I thought that filmmaking was an excellent medium, where I could express my ideas better,” More stated.
Khisa, which was accomplished in 2019 and hit the pageant circuit earlier than the pandemic shut down screens, has received two awards on the Istanbul Film Awards 2020 and one on the tenth Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival in Delhi. “I have always been a rebel, since childhood. I am no different as a filmmaker,” concluded the Khisa director.
