By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
From Mumbai: M. Nine Shyamalan?
From Asian Age, news of a feature being made by a 9-year-old, passed without comment. “He says “start”, “sound” and “action” with such ease, as he wields the camera on the sets directing “Uncle Jackie”. Nine-year-old Kishan HR, a student of Camlin School in Bangalore is [setting] a world record as the youngest director in film history to direct a feature film in Kannada titled Care Of Footpath. “The film stars Jackie Shroff in the role of a chief minister along with Saurabh Shukla. The [130] minute film has been made on a budget of Rs 70 lakhs and will be released in April. Kishan was moved by the young urchins selling newspapers at traffic signals. He asked his father why they were selling papers and not going to school. “This culminated into a story. My father told me that they are poor children who have to work for their living. I wrote the story and showed it to my father, who in turn showed it to his friends. They encouraged me to direct a film… I have learnt the ropes of filmmaking on the sets. My parents showed me DVDs on filmmaking and have read out books to me. I observed the director placing the lights and the camera positions. But learning about camera angles and shot divisions took more time,” he adds. We ask Jackie how it was to be directed by a child. He says, “It is an amazing experience. The kid is brilliant. He has realised his dreams and it’s nice to work with a child basically because children have no egos. When I met this child, I was amazed by his experience and talent. I told him that he should make a film and promised to work in it. He came to me a few months later with his story and asked me if I would work for him,” says Jackie.”