The chilly cold breeze of the December winds was scarring his face. Anshul was staring out of the window unbothered of the freezing pain caused by their cold fingers. He was deep immersed in his thoughts about the on-going project. The days weren't harsh. He had been through harder times. This time his thoughts were more concerned about the impact his film is going to make on the viewers. Even one life saved is saved forever. He knew the impact films could have on people. When films could westernize people, teach them all sorts of violence and all sorts of crimes, then what great wonders could films do if they spread values? One good film is a one-time vaccine that hits millions of hearts in a single take and then keeps them immune to evil for a lifetime.
Anshul knew the exact moment when he earlier had these thoughts about the impact of films. It was almost an year ago. He was sitting all alone in his room staring into vacuum. His thoughts were racing with time. All the news updates and notifications about farmer suicides were reeling in-front of his eyes.
Newspaper clipping, television debates, live notifications and innumerable petitions they were an unstoppable lot rushing before his dreaming eyes. He knew there was a crisis that needs immediate response from responsible citizens of the nation. However, he just couldn't point his finger in the right direction. All he knew was film-making and he always believed in the invaluable impact of films on the society. However, for one moment, that day he questioned himself, Do films really have such impact? Can they stop a depressed man from committing suicide?
As his mind was debating profusely with his heart, he received a call. The call was from Dr.Ramanjaneyulu GV, the Executive Director of Centre of Sustainable Agriculture. Dr. Ramanujaneyulu was highly impressed by Anshul's previous work, Gateway to Heaven and invited him to work on the growing agrarian crisis in the nation. Anshul had no words to say. He saw his thoughts getting reflected from the words of the director. That moment his heart won the war of words against his mind. When films could teach people to kill and die, why can't the same films teach people to live and let live? He accepted the project at once and once again his hands were full of work and his mind full of thoughts.
The screeching halt of the bus woke him into the present. Enabavi, a village not more than 100km from Hyderabad is the first organic village in the nation. It was their umpteenth visit to the village. They had been shooting in the village for the past few months. The village reminded Anshul of his journey from Dr. Ramanujaneyulu's proposal to the final days of the shoot. The strain he took to script a story on the topic was tremendous. It took him four months to complete the scripting as he had to work in the morning to survive on his profession and script in the nights to hold on to his passion. After four months he left the job to once again gear up on the path of film-making. There are many in the society who dream of becoming a film-maker but there are few like Anshul who dream of bringing about a change in the society through film-making. It was not just is passion that he wants to breathe life into. Rather it was the entire profession of film-making that he wants to let live on a dignified path.
All the rejections he faced, the hours spent in vain at the reception counters, they were stained memories that would take years to wipe clean off his soul. Any other film-maker would have let go after all that he had faced in his previous project, Gateway to Heaven. However Anshul seemed to walk the same path again and again. May be he decided to master the path of rejections in order to someday reach the heights that he had been so relentlessly searching for. Anshul thus found himself walking along the organic farms of Enabavi tracing back the hard memories of the entire process of making "Mitti- Back to the Roots".
He clearly remembered the night when he was so sleepless, worried about the film production. He had already been to dozens of film-producers in Mumbai and Hyderabad but none had at least allowed him to enter their cabins. He was so tired and disappointed that he didn't even realize when he dozed off. That night he dreamt of himself as a mountaineer. He was on the top of a mountain and as he looked down, he could see hundreds of men trying to cross a river on a broken bridge. From his viewpoint he could see a better bridge a few meter further but the men below didn't seem to notice it. He tried shouting at them but in vain. As he looked around in despair, he found a loud-speaker a foot above his position. He tried finding a foot-hold but couldn't see any. He noticed that there was a man standing right beside the speaker.
He called him to ask him to announce in the speaker about the crisis that the men below are heading to. However, the man didn't seem to notice him. After few unsuccessful attempts, he looked down at him and asked him what the matter was. After hearing the entire thing, he gave a disgusting look and turned his head in the direction of other climbers. Anshul requested him to at least help him reach the speaker so that he can alert the men below. He noticed that people were already getting washed by the flooding water. He was shouting at the edge of his voice to the man above, when suddenly he found a hand holding his swaying fist. It was a co-climber inches away from him. He seemed to give an understanding nod and soon Anshul realized that there were many climbers who had heard his appeal and decided to help him. Soon they were a chain of climbers slowly escalating the mountain relying on each other's foot-holds and the strength of determination that bound them together.
The next day when he woke up Anshul deciphered what his dream meant to convey to him. The speaker was the platform for films and the man at the top was the one-face of the producers of the India industry. Though they are in a position to help the people in crisis they never pay heed to that situation. Even when someone like Anshul tries to do the same they don't even bother to give him a helping hand. However, the positive message sent by the co-climbers suggested him to once again go in his routine path of crowd-sourcing. He knew there are people concerned about the lives of the people around them and when time demands they always stay ready to extend a helping hand.
The crowd-sourcing that Anshul initiated for his film started to reap enough yield. With that he crossed the pre-production stage. With the help of other sponsorers, he began the post production of the film. In its final stages accompishment, Anshul knew quite well that his film might not find a distributor. He has decided to do a road-show of his film across the most affected villages of the nation. He once again finds himself at the edge of a rock shouting at the edge of his voice for help. Success is a single step away for him. However, he needs more hands to strengthen his chain of climbers and to support them from below to overpower the crushing force from the top of the mountain.
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