interview with Arin Paul, an Indian filmmaker.
Indian Filmmaker: “Wear Mask, Wash Hands, Maintain Social Distancing”
Arin Paul graduated from the Asian Academy of Film & Television (AAFT) in Noida, India in the year 2002.
He started his career as an assistant director in Delhi and has assisted many filmmakers 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 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 films and other.
He has made films for the 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.
Arin Paul was awarded the “Rotary Youth Achiever of The Year (2008)” award. 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.
Iran’s 16th Resistance International Film Festival has held an interview with Arin Paul about his film “Freedom from Virus” participating in the festival and other works of this young film director.
Interview with Arin Paul.
The excerpt of the interview is as follows:
Question: Please tell us about your film. How and why did you made it?
Arin Paul: Will power, determination, and unity had led to our Independence. This year on Independence Day lets once again determine to unitedly defeat our enemy. Wear masks, wash hands, and maintain social distancing. Let’s break the chain… Not the bond.” That’s the main theme of our film, “Freedom from Virus (Azaadi Virus Se).” By staying together, we achieved our Independence and by staying together, we can defeat the virus. We made the film to make our citizens understand that and also to make them aware of the safety regulations and their usefulness in this fighting process.
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?
Arin Paul: Since the start of lockdown on 15th March India’s citizens went into a state of shock and disbelief as the virus was spreading all over. It was then that we all learnt to stay safe by wearing masks, using hand sanitizers and maintaining social distancing. Though, sadly we found that as the lockdown was given severe relaxations people were not following the basic guidelines anymore. Hence, we came up with the mentioned 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?
Arin Paul: 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 km (in Kolkata) away 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?
Arin Paul: India saw a wave of migrant laborers’ movement from the big cities to their villages, towns amidst the 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 km. Incredible. There are so many more such incidents of joy and agony which can be brought forward.
Q: Let us be a little reminiscent for the last question; if you could 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?
Arin Paul: None other than the master craftsman, legendary filmmaker, Late Shri Ritwik Ghatak.
Interview with Arin Paul
PR agency Source :isna.ir
