Film your life

College-goer Renu Agarwal (name changed) had a bitter love life. Her boyfriend, a drug addict, was very abusive and harassed her often. She went back to Delhi, her hometown and he followed her there too.

When he met her parents, who are quite well to do, she saw how misfit her boyfriend looked in front of the family and for the first time, she began seeing things from a different perspective. Agarwal now wants this incident in her life to be made into a film. She has already begun shooting for the same. She says, “I’m looking forward to shooting it. I am a bit tense because the last time I acted was for a school play in 2002.” She adds that the film will give her a chance to view her own life from a third person’s point of view.

Arjun Verman (25) is an aspiring singer who has done his diploma in music from the London School of Music. He wants to make a music video on a song based on his life. He has written the lyrics and composed the music. The music video will be shot on the beaches of Goa.

“Nowadays, picture portfolios are not enough. One needs to show videos to music channels and various companies. I will be showing this video to showcase my talent and get positive feedback," says Verman. He adds that he will also be uploading the video on websites to make it more public.

If your life is worth a story waiting to be told, you now stand a chance to film it. Better still, show it online or have it screened too. Filmmaker Rohan Sabharwal, one of the founders of Ten10 films — a film production company, encourages people and helps them make films on their life.

When a person comes up with an interesting tale, he writes the script and also trains the person in acting. His team includes a cinematographer, sound designer, director of photography and music director.

“Stories of common people are sometimes very interesting and other people can identify with it when shown on screen,” says Sabharwal, a graduate in filmmaking from the London Film School. He adds that when he meets a person, he can tell whether the person’s story has enough potential or not. “If I don’t find a story worth making a film on, I don’t say no but tell him/her to improvise on it,” he says.

Since 2003, he has been working as a filmmaker and a graphic artist. He has designed logos for Hugo Boss, Energie and Miss Sixty. He has also worked as an assistant director with the Foot Candles ad agency which has made advertisements for Surf Excel and Reliance. He recently launched Ten10 films in association with three other filmmakers — Kemal Akhtar (British filmmaker), Oystein Lundstrom (Norwegian cinematographer) and Charlie Wupperman (German cinematographer).

“The idea to do something on a personalised genre was suggested to me by Kanika Parab and Manasi Poddar (idea consultants and founders of the Brown Paper Bag (BPB) website. I gave it a serious thought thereafter,” says Sabharwal, whose documentaries have been screened at Cannes and British film festivals.

With just one announcement on the BPB website and on Facebook, in a short span of one month, he has already got four clients — an aspiring stand-up comedian from Oman, a singer, an Indo-Australian actress and a college student.

“I was approached by Renu who wanted to make a film on her relationship with her abusive boyfriend. Towards the end, we have given a comic treatment to the serious story so that she can just laugh off the bad patches in her life,” says Sabharwal, who had made films for stalwarts like danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, actor Chiranjeevi and politician Dr Mona Patel Shah.

The time duration of the film ranges from three minutes to 20 minutes. Sabharwal charges nominal fees for direction and other post production work. According to Sabharwal, one can make a film for as less as Rs5,000. The films made will be sent to film festivals across the world and will be screened at Shamiana film club in Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad.
Contact: www.rohansabharwal.com and 6661 4812.