The debut movie of director Abhishek Shah was inspired by the folklore of Kutch.
Hellaro, the yet-to-be-released Gujarati film that has won the National Awards for the best feature film, has several untold tales behind the recognition.
The debut movie of director Abhishek Shah was inspired by the folklore of Kutch. "I happened to hear a folk song and a line triggered my imagination about the possibility that it can be encapsulated in a movie," said Shah who plans to release the film this Diwali.
Shah said the movie is not one of women's empowerment but of their expression. "A friend recited the folklore to me and I decided to adapt it but the characters, expressions and everything about it is original," said Shah who tried his hand at film direction with Hellaro.
Incidentally, Shah has been the brain behind several successful theatre productions and has been part of the Gujarati theatre for years as a writer, director and actor.
The director said that while everyone is talking about the movie, very few have realised that the 12 actresses in it too have won a special jury mention.
The film is a portrayal of a group of women shackled by patriarchal mandates. A young girl Manjhri is married off to a distant village in Rann of Kutch in 1975 and becomes part of a group of women who find themselves restricted by a male-dominated society. Their life changes when they find someone in the middle of the desert one day while on their daily routine to fetch water from a distant well.
Hellaro is the first film from Gujarat to win the best feature film award at the national stage. The last time a Gujarati movie won a National Award (except in the regional category) was Ketan Mehta's Bhavni Bhavai.
It won the award for best film on national integration.
Shah said they were pretty confident that their movie would win an award. "But then with awards anything can happen," said Shah laughingly. The movie is also slated to compete at several other international festivals.
The film has been produced by Ashish Patel with co-producers - Abhishek Shah, Aayush Patel, Mit Jani and Prateek Gupta while it has been co-written by Abhishek Shah and Prateek Gupta.
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