Contributor Testimonial - Garima Singh

Here's what Garima Singh had to say about "how she got to know about Megha and what made her contribute"

The unconventional has always attracted me. I like experimenting...part of a reason why I am a scientist, professionally. I liked most of the Onir's films. WIth some people you know that they are different and they are there to make a difference. In present days world, with internet all around and much information overload, all kinds of boundaries have disappeared. So everyone knows everything or at least has access to it. But there are always people who look at the same things differently and never mind trying their best anyway.

It was not too long back that I sent a friend request to Onir on facebook, as a part of one of my mission to get in touch with inspiring and creative people throught the world. Soon I got to know about his latest project series I AM. Or may be it was the other way round but I felt welcomed as he added me on his facebook. It was great to be in touch with him and even better if in some way I could have been involved with one of his films. I do have hobbies of writing and documentary film making, but mostly for fun, never thought of making them my profession for myriads of reason. I thought at least this is a great opportunity to be a part of a creative project and a person's endeavors with experimentation for a cause. I was ready to be involved in any of them because I personally liked all of them.

Talking specifically about Megha, I feel it is a great subject in present day's situation. I could not get time initially to visit the Kashmir valley and later on couldn't get a chance to visit the place that has been so much disturbed for so many years. A few months back I watched a documentary by Sarah Singh "The Sky Below", that she had made by visiting and interviewing common people and officials in India, Pak and Kashmir. This movie was screened at Cornell and Sarah had come down for the panel discussions. I admired the way she presented the people's story. It was amazing to see the love in their hearts, the agony that they had been through and all they want now is peace. No one wants millitants or millitary. They just want to get back to the normal life. This part of the story you could never get from the news channels, politicians or the army officials. The part that she showed in her one and a half hour documentary showed how the lives of people are interconnected yet it is such a helpless state to be in.

In Onir's words : " We cannot forget. As long as we keep pushing these under the carpet, being silent and fending for ourselves and our mundane lives, we will not evolve. The fractured society that is will continue to divide us."

It is so true. The matter is too close to my heart even when I have never visited the land and I regret not visiting it after the situation went bad as much as I regret not visiting it before the situation went bad.
MEGHA points to the situation that none amongst us would like to be in, yet we keep mum. Now is the time to make difference in ways we can. I guess movies even when they cannot bring out social revolution, can certainly affect the mindset of the common people who still have movies and television as one of the most and may be only way of entertainment in India.

This was a piece of my thinking with disclaimer that it is not intended to hurt anyone's philosophies, ideas or agenda.

Thanks Lalit Koul for contributing and co-owning Megha

Just wanted to update you all that we've got another contribution from Massachusetts's Lalit Koul. Lalit's contribution falls in the Rs 5,000 - Rs 25,000 category.

Thanks a lot Lalit for believing in us and coming forward to show support.

An Ode to Megha

Guys,

Mr Dalip Langoo is a Vocalist/Music Composer and Lyricist from Kashmir and has shared with us a Poem he wrote for "Megha". Here's what he had to say

I came to know about the project from face book. The wonderful promo attracted attention of many supporting the project financially and I could not stop myself expressing my feelings and being an artiste I penned down a poem that I recorded also for your group I M. MY best wishes are with you and we will be eagerly waiting for the sucess of the project of you all.

View more presentations from I AM The Films.

Thanks Dave Datta for contributing and co-owning Megha

Seems like co-owning multiple short films is the new trend. Yes, going by our last few contributions we are happy to share that increasingly more people are contributing for more than one short films from I AM.

Earlier we had Valentina Erath from Vienna who co-owns 3 short films and Sandhya Suri Hiyaa Israni from Nigeria who co-owns 2 short films and now its Dave Datta from US who already is a co-producer for Abhimanyu and has now contributed in the 1 Lakh + category to become Co-Producer of Megha.

Thanks a lot Dave Datta for believing in us and coming forward to show support.

To become a co-owner write to us at iamthefilms@gmail.com

Why Megha? - Urmi

Urmi Juvekar is the writer for Megha (fourth film in the Series 'I AM')

The trouble with ideas is that you never know where they will take you.

One of those Café Coffee Day afternoons, catching up with Onir. As usual, he is oscillating between being gung-ho about his films and depressed about life. He mentions that maybe it is high time I do one of the stories for the "I AM" series. Yes, well, sure, why not? What do you want me write?

For many days, we discuss various settings and come up with nothing. I am happy. Have you ever met a writer excited about writing? Then he drops a bombshell, actually make it two. The proposed date for shooting and hmmm… write a story about two women. I stare at him in complete disbelief.

I don't remember when we started talking about Kashmiri Pandits. I am an educated urban Indian woman and like most of my ilk, I know precious little about what happened to them. I know a lot more about what is happening in Kashmir right now-have read the Human Watch issue about Kashmir. But Pandits? I am not too sure if I want to get into it. I do not want to point fingers at any other community but mine. I don't want to seem biased.

The best thing about writing fiction is, it frees me from taking sides. I get to write only about people caught in the crossfire, people like me… for whom most of the time, the world makes no sense at all.

I discuss the basic idea. There isn't much to discuss. Of course, Onir wants it to be about two women. So one becomes a Kashmiri Pandit visiting her house after years of living in exile and the other one a Kashmiri Muslim who has stayed back to witness the mayhem.

I have always wondered about departures, forced or voluntary. We all have experienced them sometimes in life. I have never been sure if departures are bad. I mean, it is only when you leave you have a chance of arriving somewhere, of making something of yourself, of starting afresh, creating a new you. What scares me the most is never having a chance to leave…

Megha just wrote itself. I handed over the script to Onir and forgot all about it. Responses started pouring in to the AV on Facebook. They shook me up. There were too many Meghas and Rubinas out in the world and they were watching us, expecting to break the long silence inflicted on them. I was particularly moved by a piece titled 'My Mother's 22 rooms'.

After that came the trip to Kashmir and Megha became a person of flesh and blood. She stared accusingly at me from the nameplates of crumbling houses. When people leave homes, houses die. Kashmir is littered with their carcasses.

The paradise is lost- lost to those who have left and lost to those who stayed behind.

Sanjay is with us. He is stoic- checking for permissions for shootings, arranging accomodations… yet, memories keep flooding him and I begin to see Srinagar through his eyes. It was nothing like what it is now, wrapped in barbed wire twice over. Sanjay does not let on much. He doesn't speak of what happened unless asked a direct question… I am afraid to ask. I do not want to know. Do not tell me how you ran away leaving everything that you ever had to save your lives. It is unfair I keep saying to myself…too unfair.

Onir and I spend sleepless nights discussing the reasons for this silence; the absence of 24/7 news channels to make it a breaking news, power struggle between the Center and State, ego hassles between the governor and the chief minister, lack of international support… Are we making a list of reasons or excuses?

The only conclusion we reach is that someone benefited from this silence. Who?

I do not want to be an activist- do not want to belong to a camp lest you label me and not want to hear what I have to say. We always do that. Listen to Megha and Rubina's story and be not afraid to tell yours.

My only hope right now is that Megha breaks this silence. After all what is truth unless, you speak it aloud.

Contributor Testimonial - Rahul Razdan

Here's what Rahul Razdan had to say about "how he got to know about Megha and what made him contribute"

Heard about the "I am Megha" project from a fellow Kashmiri. Was instantly attracted to the story as this is one of the rare movie that tells the story of the forgotten community of Kashmiri Pandits. I have a firm belief that Onir and Sanjay will do justice to the story.

The concept of "I Am" in itself is wonderful. In today's times we really need some meaningful cinema that highlights the various evils of the society and spreads awareness about the same. Kudos to Onir, Sanjay, and team to take a lead in this direction.

I am proud to be a part of this project. I feel happy to be able to conttribute a penny towards a good cause.

WHY MEGHA ?

In the beginning there was chaos, and nothing but chaos… and I stepped into the chaos looking for an answer….

I remember from the time I was in school in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, Kashmir was the place my mother always wanted to come to… a place of romance and beauty…. Years passed by… we never made it to Kashmir … and then the unrest… but now the dream that lay dormant in her was a living dream in me. I was looking for an excuse to visit this place…

About a year and half back I read the story of a successful Kashmiri Model in Bangladesh. One fine day he was arrested as a suspect RAW agent. After 40 days in prison he was deported to India. On arrival at the Delhi airport he was arrested as an ISI agent and kept in Tihar for three months. He was released because of lack of evidence, but not given a clean chit. The contradiction in the whole episode excited me….

He flew down to Mumbai and I met him. There was the man – once a model, now a suspect, a man with a broken nose, a limp and a few scars standing in front of me. Over the next few days we spoke and I realized that his story is not what I wanted to make a film on, but it started the process of another story in me. His conversations with me raised many questions in me. These were fragmented thoughts, scattered images and half spoken words.

Then I decided that I had to go…. On the 14th of October 2007, I was driving out of Srinagar airport-“WELCOME TO PARADISE” the sign board read… and all around it were bunkers, armored vehicles, barbered wires and army men. I heaved a sigh -Paradise indeed! This was the paradox that was to become a part of my sight and sound over the next few days. We drove straight to Azaan’s (my friend and guide) house. This would be my abode for the next few days as the family absolutely refused to let me stay in a hotel. I am glad that I did not insist. This was the first time I was living with a Muslim family. And the experience was most enriching. So many misconceptions, so many apprehensions – all destroyed over the next days as I ate, slept, chatted, and discovered Srinagar with Azaan and his family.

Once back in my Versova flat I try and give shape to my story but I realize that now it is perhaps more fragmented, scattered because that is what I feel about Kashmir… The shape is shapeless.

Images, images…. The magnificent Chinar trees, the cold fresh air, the extremely polluted and dirty Dal lake, the piercing looks of the army Jawans, PTV blaring everywhere, Café Arabica, Boulevard road, The posh new cottages, the burnt Habakadal with its memories of migrant Hindus, the beautiful woodwork that adorned ceilings, doors windows etc, the magnificent Dastgir sahab, the absolutely adorable kids( what was striking is how kids seem to roam around so freely in groups without any fear), the pony tailed today’s fashionable kashmiri boys, the colourfully dressed beautiful confident kashmiri women, the nun chai(salt tea), the food( I was eating all the time), The lonely army jawan, the wandering shepherds….

The day I was supposed to return back home I took a long walk up the mountain road… and at one point where it overlooked the whole city I sat down. I felt immensely sad – sad for the valley caught in this conflict of two nations, sad for this valley where trees were disappearing, heritage structures falling apart and ugly new malls coming up. Sad for the jawan whom I was trying to photograph when he stopped me ‘mera naukri jayega( I will loose my job)… paanch minute baitkar bath hi karloh( why don’t you chat with me for five minutes)”. I sat with him as he spoke about his home in the far west, about being unloved and unwanted by the local people, about being on the brink of death all the time, about a desire to speak to someone other than his colleagues.

I smiled as I thought of the young Kashmiri girls who refused to believe that I was a director, and thought that they were far better looking than the Bollywood actresses.At the same time I felt uneasy when I saw the look many of them had when a group of pretty kashmiri women passed them. I thought how I would feel if I had to pass by a man with a gun every ten minutes….I would not be happy. I know it is much more complex, but this is definitely not it! They were not complaining because things are much better now, and they have accepted this as a part of their lives…. Would I be able to do that- I am afraid not, because they also represent memories of torture, abduction, rape and death.

I remembered my walk through Habakalal, trying hard to control my tears as I stood before the house of a Hindu friend who had to migrate after the militants murdered a family member. I remembered all the stories he had told me about the house, about the chinar outside his house, about the bridge across the river on the way to his school, about the loud speaker blaring in the night asking the kafir’s (Hindu’s) to leave…. About the house with eighteen rooms… so many memories.

Later in the night in the privacy of my room I wept… wept for all those people who lost their homes, live lives in refugee camps and who have the right to this “paradise”. I remembered my home- in Bhutan, remembered how we had to leave because of political unrest, how it affected my mothers health for good, remember our car pulling away from the house of my childhood, remember the students from my dad’s school standing on both the sides of the road and throwing rose petals on our car… and my dad’s face, unflinching, strong, trying hard to control his tears waving to the kids says a good bye to the school and house he built 25 years ago.

Memories jumble, emotions erupt, images intermingle…. And I know the script is beginning, the film that I have to make- a film set in kashmir, about the loss of identity, loss of home, of history, of fear, of hope and despair….That is perhaps where the germ of MEGHA started. I started working on a script on Kashmir with Merle Kroger called THE FACE…. But somewhere the story of the dual loss was disappearing.

As we started the “I AM” series I thought that it would be maybe the right platform to start the process. I spoke to my friend and writer URMI JUVEKAR (writer Oye Lucky Lucky Oye) about the concept. She readily agreed to write the film.

Working together with Urmi has been again something that both of us have been trying for a while …. And somehow it never happened after 1994….Fifteen years later it is happening now. … MEGHA was born……

This is a film that tells the story of the paradox that is Kashmir. The story of 300,000 migrants, who have lost their home and identity. This is the story of a population stuck in a conflict situation where nothing moves.

This is the story of two friends MEGHA and RUBINA which reflect the two sides of the same coin…..

CAST

We at ANTICLOCK FILMS offer you an opportunity to be a part of a process of the making of a film, to

be a part owner of a film. You can do this my contributing monetarily for the making of the film. To that end, we’ve established four different ways to help:

· Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 – Students category. Acknowledgement on the website and the end credits.

(Treated as donation)

· Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 – Acknowledgements in the end credits( Treated as donation/pledge)

· Rs 25,000 to Rs 100,000 – Return of your contribution at the time of the final film release and

acknowledgement in the end credits

· Rs 100,000 to Rs 15,00,000 – Acknowledgements in the beginning titles of the film and

proportionate share in the profits.

Total budget of each short film is – Rs 30,000,00 (Rupees thirty lacs)

Funds in Place by Anticlock Films – Rs 15,000,00 (Rupees fifteen lacs)

Please spread word and help support a film that wants to make a difference. Thank you.

· Contact: anticlockfilms@gmail.com

· Amar : +91 98337 48111

Connect

· Facebook: http://facebook.com/iammegha

· Twitter: http://twitter.com/iamthefilms

· Website coming soon : www.iamthefilms.com

· Cheques to be made for Anticlock films and sent to :

181 PARIKH BUNGALOW

FIRST FLOOR

ARAM NAGAR II

J.P.ROAD VERSOVA

ANDHERI WEST

MUMBAI 4000 61

INDIA

DIRECTED BY ONIR

PRODUCED BY SANJAY SURI AND ONIR

WRITTEN BY URMI JUVEKAR

DOP : ARVIND KANNABIRAN

EDITOR: IRENE DHAR

SOUND DESIGN : ARUN NAMBIAR

MUSIC : AMIT TRIVEDI

Bianca Saldanha Joins Team 'I AM'

Hey Guys,

Hope you are doing good.

In the mad rush of work we missed updating you about another member that joined team 'I AM', but better late than never.

Here's what Bianca had to say about how she got involved

I came to Bombay just 10 days before I joined Anticlock films and all the while I was playing safe trying to look for editing gigs. A lot of people I met from the industry discouraged me from looking for work on a film production set saying I wouldn’t be able to pull it off due to the hard work and long hours. I don’t know if they were being sexist or plain nice, but having just graduated from film school, I was no stranger to working the graveyard shift. Weekends were always few and far between. I once worked non-stop for 37 hours on my student film, doing what I love, while never letting anything weigh me down.

And so in my pursuit of achieving my goals, an aunt of mine got me in touch with her best friend – Aunt Indu (Purab Kohli’s mother) – who is a friend of Onir’s. She forwarded a copy of my resumé to Onir and I ended up meeting him at his office the following day. A script reading, a few discussions with Amar and Onir, and I was on. I joined the “Abhimanyu” bandwagon just 10 days before we went into production, and what a ride it has been since then! All of this took a while to sink in but I think it actually hit me on my first day on the sets of Abhimanyu when I was seeing what I had been dreaming of for the longest time. And that is being on set - of a film in the making; of dreams materializing.

I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be selected to be part of this team and their projects. No, I’m not about to lay it on thick, but all I will say is during the entire time of my study in Toronto, the only hindi film I actually sought out to buy and watch was Sorry Bhai!, and only because it was made by Onir. Well, you didn’t know that Onir, but I guess, now u do!

What with the Abhimanyu shoot just being wrapped up, and Omar almost close on the heels, all I can say is that working with Onir, Sanjay Suri and everyone else at Anticlock films has been my most amazing work experience by far! And with Megha, Afia and Rudra left to round off this 5 short film series, I’m only looking forward to making more memories!

Bianca Saldanha

Megha Proposal

Megha Proposal