WHY AFIA ?

Early this year I bumped into my friend Rima Kohli at Prithivi Theatre, Juhu, Mumbai. It is always fun to meet Rima who I always remember for the wonderful time I had with her in DC and New York. The hours we spent walking around Manhattan discovering the city were full of stories. Rima for me is this amazing energetic girl who is travelling across the world working on various NGO projects. I am always jealous of the kind of work she does and the places she goes to. Currently she is working with women in AFGANISTHAN.

So meeting her for me is always a pleasurable experience as I listen to her stories and imagine myself doing all those amazing thins some day. Meeting her was unexpected. I did not know she was back from New York and currently in Mumbai. After the exclamation of joy and hugs Rima started to talk.... and this time it was another story...

For two hours I was listening to her speech less, I could see a film unfold in front of my eyes. That night I could not sleep. This was a story that was exciting. Next day I called her. I told her I want to make a film inspired from her story and for that I needed to meet her again. I needed more details. She said YES!

Thus AFIA was born. AFIA in Arabic means vigour, vitality, Divine protection and fire.

AFIA is the story of a girl who returns from her training in Switzerland and starts working in the NGO sector. She discovers hugs misappropriation of funds and to her horror discovers everyone around her right to the white boss in Switzerland is connected.

A huge amount of money comes in every year from across the world into this sector. A large chunk of it however never reaches its destination. This film talks about an area that not too many people are aware of but pretty common. This flm asks for accountability.

AFIA will be shot in MUMBAI and DELHI. After “TERE BIN” in “BAS EK PAL” Mithoon and I will once again work together.

COME JOIN US AND BE A PART OF "AFIA"

Why OMAR II ?

2ND JULY 2009 will perhaps remain a landmark day for Human rights activists in India. This is the first time a court as senior as the Delhi High Court has given a decision on homosexuality. A ruling that dismissed Article 377 that criminalised consensual sex between two adults. The Gay community across the country celebrated as they no longer would be considered as criminals because of their identity.

Of course there is noise made from certain religious quarters.... This being against our culture and how this is going to destroy our social fabric and what is going to happen to procreation. I wonder what is it in our culture to keep killing each other for temples and mosques, is it in our culture that children get sexually abused, is it our culture to beat up women having a quiet drink at a pub, it is our culture to unzip and pee all over the country, is it our culture to shit in public.... I feel angry.

Culturally and in different forms of animal and plant life homosexuality has existed from time immemorial. Also the argument about procreation is so stupid. As if the entire heterosexual population is overnight change their sexual preferences because the law is no longer valid!
In this new scenario what’s the significance of OMAR. Omar is a film that incorporates this important historical day in the script. Omar is a story of fear and acceptance and a desire to love freely. Even though homosexuality has been decriminalised, society will not overnight accept Gay men and women with open arms. There are laws against Dowry and Child labour.... we all know the true story.

The change in law will be a positive step towards respect and acceptance.... but it’s a long journey. Omar as a film wants to create a space for discourse and acceptance.
The other day someone commented “The Gay community must be happy”. I told him “ Any civilised human being should be happy”

With this I introduce you the young talented actor who will be OMAR. Saahiel Sehgall.




While The ABHIMANYU team leaves for Bangalore for the shoot on 16th July.... Contribute and become a part of OMAR which we plan to shoot in Mumbai august 2009.

- Onir

Onir in Symbiosis Pune to present Abhimanyu

Guys here's your chance to catch up with Onir and get to see some nice short films. Here's the official announcement

Aarohi Film Society, a non commercial organization for the promotion of cinema and talent, was established in June 2007. A registered organization with a member base of more than 500 filmmakers, it is headed by 7 core founding members.

Aarohi Youth Empowerment Campaign "The Showcase"

Aarohi Film Society aims to empower youth through cinema. To generate awareness on the social issues prevailing in our society, we have designed a screening program called 'The Showcase', where short films based on social issues will be screened in colleges, film clubs and schools across India.Thus, striving to make the youth understand their responsibilities towards the society.

Along with the screening of short fims of Aarohi, we will discuss the series of short films to be directed by renowned and critically acclaimed director, Onir. One such film is 'Abhimanyu'.

"Abhimanyu"

Abhimanyu is the story of a child abuse survivor inspired by the true story of Harish Iyer and his struggle to reclaim his own shattered identity after 11 long years of abuse.

In India, one out of every five girls and one out of ten boys face some form of physical or psychological abuse. Sadly, most of these incidents are never reported and innocent victims are forced to suffer in silence. The brave few that do come forward are woefully underserved by a society that prefers to look away and a legal system that doesn’t care.

Aarohi and Onir believe that independent cinema exists to give a voice to those working against the tide and outside the system. ABHIMANYU is one of five short films directed by Onir to tackle important issues ignored by mainstream Indian cinema. The idea is to release each film for educational/awareness/festival purposes and eventually compile all five short films into one release for general audiences.

Students will also get an opportunity to interact with Film Director Onir. At the same time, Onir will also be discussing with students, his new series of short films, the thought behind the entire cause and the opportunity/methodology of becoming a co producer of the film.

Venue: Symbiosis, Pune

1) Viman Nagar Campus

Time : 3:30 pm onwards

2) Knowledge Village, Lavale Campus

Time: 6:30 pm Onwards

Schedule: for both the campus:

• Felicitation of Guests.
• Introduction of the Chief Guest, Onir and a brief on Onir's series of Shorts.
• Brief of Aarohi and ‘The Showcase’- Youth Empowerment Campaign.
• Screening of films and interaction with the film makers, if present.
• Post Aarohi Screenings, Onir and the series of shorts is reintroduced briefly followed by Abhimanyu AV screening, and Onir Speaks - Details about 'Abhimanyu', the complete series, the AV, the opportunity of becoming a co producer and student Interaction on the overall issue.

Films to be screened:

Name Of The Movie	Duration
Ad Films
NACO	39 secs
The Chair	31 secs
Tiger	58 secs
Short Films
Pistuyla	14 mins 57 secs
The Candy Man	10 mins 19 secs
Cheque Of Death	3 mins 15 secs
Kaun Azaad Hua	3 mins 2 secs
Animations
Influenche	4 min, 42 secs
Kya Farkh Padta Hai	5 min, 53 secs
Dolly And Me	50 secs
Fuel And Duel	2 mins, 40 secs

Campus 1 -
Total shorts screenings time - 45 minutes.
Event begins 3:30 pm.
Ends 5:15 pm

We travel to Campus 2 - 5:30pm to 6:15pm

Campus 2 -
Total shorts screenings time - 45 minutes.
Event begins 6:45 pm.
Ends 8:30 pm

Entries for Name The Film Contest

The response to the Name The Film Contest has been great. The contest is still running, if you haven't submitted your entry yet, please do so by either dropping a comment below or sending us an email to abhimanyu.anticlockfilms@gmail.com. The winner gets credited in the film, wins an invite to the movie premier and (if interested) gets to be an intern for three months in Onir's next film. Here's a list of the names that people have suggested so far.

• Kaleidoscopes
• Immortal
• CRY
• kramshah
• Soch
• HIGH FIVE
• silent tears
• siskiya
• pentagon
• tears of silence
• dark chocolate
• sshhhh
• whisper
• the untiltled
• MY FEARRY TALES!
• My soul started talking
• Soul Dilemma
• DANSH
• Who Am I?
• . (just a dot)
• five demises
• Kuchh Baatein Ankahee
• Black Oleander
• Shunyatha
• Whispers to Shouts
• CHHITEIN
• CHAL CHALE MERE SAATH
• Guhaar
• Alakh
• Antarnaad
• P A N C H A T A N T R A
• chakravyuh
• Kuchh Ankahee
• Antardhwani
• Goonj
• TANZ
• Prayaas
• Kathastu
• colors of life
• Sannatta
• HIDDEN TRUTH
• Sawal Paanch?

updated 19th June

• ANDEKHEE, ANKAHEE...ANSUNEE
• Sitam
• REMOTE VOICES
• Adhoori Kahaniyan!
• Incomplete Stories
• Qatra Qatra Awaazein

So which name do you like most ?

AFIA Poster

Hi Guys,

We've just got the poster for Afia and here it is.


So how do you find it ?

Shooting to commence in July

Here's another update for you all.

We are tightening our seat belts and ask you all to do the same as we plan to begin shooting for short films in the first week of July. We are in the process of finalizing the shooting details and charting out the plan of action. While we sort things out at our end to begin shooting you don't wait any further to send in your contributions, as getting the required funds at the earliest will ensure that our schedule goes smoothly and timely as planned.

Thanks once again !!!

Team Abhimanyu

The following would be crew for Abhimanyu

Director : Onir

Producer : Sanjay Suri and Onir

Story Screen Play : Merle Kroeger and Onir

DOP : Arvind Kannabiran

Dialogues : Ashwini Malik

Music : Rajiiv Bhallla

Lyrics :Amitabh Varma

Editing : Irene Dhar Malik

Sound Design : Arun Nambiar

Production Design: Sriram Sujeet

Publicity Design : Siddharth Dutta

Graphics : Sidharth Meer

Online Marketing : Mayank Dhingra

Overseas PR: Manan Singh Katohora

Making of Abhimanyu : Rajeev Kohli

Asst Dir : Amar Kaushik

: Sundeep Malani

: Ashif Shah(Nepal)

Production Manager: Mohan Joshi

Production Assistant: Akhil Chaudhary

Line Producer: Archana Balan

Styling: Aki Narula

So guys, what do you think about the team ?