Shwetaabh Singh’s films head for fests
Acting aspirants are aplenty in our country, but a 29-year-old getting into production with unconventional films, like Shwetaabh Singh, are very few. And not one, but two of his films are going to international film festivals, in Busan, South Korea, and in Mumbai.
“One film, Eeb Allay Ooo, is based in Delhi, the other, Aise Hee, is set in Allahabad. I’ve made both independently. Most of us, including the directors of the films, are firsttimers and graduates of the Film and Television Institute, Pune,” he says.
The themes, Shwetaabh explains, are from our lives. He says Eeb Allay Ooo, which will premiere at the Pingyao International Film Festival, is named after the sound made by people hired by the NDMC to scare away monkeys. “The guy in the film gets this job as a ‘government’ job. It is about his struggle to acclimatize to things around him. Aise Hee is about a 70-year-old recently widowed woman, who is expected to do as widows do — wear a white saree, go to temples and be the ideal housewife. But she instead wants to do simple things like have ice cream in a mall, go to a beauty parlour... It’s about how the society reacts,” he says.
Both films have been nominated in the main competition category.
“Busan is between October 3 and 12,” Shwetaabh says, adding, “that’s where Aise Hi will go. It is the only Indian film in the main competition.”
One of my films is about a 70-year-old widow... who wants to do simple things like have ice cream in a mall, go to a parlour...
SHWETAABH SINGH PRODUCER