Lalit Gupta
Released on 5th September, 2014, in KC and Apsara multiplexes of Jammu, the Hindi film ‘Bacche Mann Ke Sacche’ is of special importance for Jammuites. The film has been produced, written and edited by son of the soil Jayesh Gupta and is a bold attempt to provide value based entertainment through the medium of cinema.
The highlight of ‘Bacche Mann Ke Sacche’ is that the film focuses on problems and their effect on lives of children both inside their homes as well as at schools: the second most important place in their formative years. The film with its laudable theme and treatment not only catches the attention of young minds but also their elders, is certainly a path blazer for young film makers of the state. The last few years have been significant for Jollywood (the acronym for budding Film Industry in Jammu) as there has been a steady trickle of films produced by local filmmakers. After the iconic Dogri film Gallan Hoiyan Betieyan produced in 1966, the renaissance of full length feature films produced and directed by local talents started with-‘Lakeer’ in Pahari (2010), ‘Maa Ni Mildi'(2010), ‘Kuggi Maar Duari’ (2011), Reet (2102), and ‘Geetiyaan’ (2014)–all in Dogri. The other films which were also locally produced include ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfam’ (Dogri-Kashmiri) (2013) and Damini in Hindi (2013).
Above films along with local actors in main leads also boasted of star cast from Bolywood has set the trend for indigenously made films. The enthusiastic public response in Jammu and other towns also has come as testimony to the passion and technical maturity of respective directors/producers in providing quality entertainment to the public at large.
In this background, Jeysh Gupta who announced his arrival in the world of cinema with his maiden film
‘Bache Mann Ke Sache’, presents a typical case where a trained engineer, following his calling of the heart and passion, he abandoned the so-called lucrative profession, only to take up film making as a vocation.
Born at Trikuta Nagar, Jammu, in 1979, to the business family of Jai Rani and Raj Kumar Gupta, Jayesh Gupta studied at Cooperative Public School and Ranbir Higher Secondary School. He then went to Pune to pursue Bachelor Course in Civil Engineering and successfully completed it in 2003. But after discovering that it were films that not only fascinated him but also provided a platform for transforming his creative ideas for the benefit of society, he abandoned the fashionable career of a civil engineer and much to the shock of his parents, shifted to Mumbai where he took up odd jobs like working in a Call Centre and ICCI bank, to sustain himself and also meet expenses for taking short term courses in acting, direction, visual effects and editing.
Talking to Excelsior, Jayesh Gupta said that during those years in Mumbai, I got great support from my family. “I made short films to get hold on the medium. Initially I had hired a script writer but as he ditched me at the last moment, I decided to take up the challenge of writing scripts myself. To my surprise I found out that once I tried my hand in script writing, it came to almost naturally”. Jayesh Gupta says that internet has been a great help to him as a number of tutorials on different areas in film making are easily available for anyone to learn from it was after seeing films like ‘Tare Zameen Par’ and ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’, that he seriously began working on the idea of making children based film. After hard work and planning of three years, he worked on the project of making the film ‘Bacche Mann Ke Sacche’ under the banner of Karismatic Production. “It was in 2012, I came to Jammu along with technical crew from Mumbai to shoot the first phase of the film and we completed almost 60 to 70 percent of the shooting in Jammu and surrounding areas. The cameraman was Gautam Gaekwad. During this time, I discovered that the available infrastructure and technical persons required for film making in Jammu were no less than their counterparts from Mumbai. This made us to complete the remaining portion of shooting with help of local talent in areas of cinematography like Suraj, lights, sound and background music”, he said.
The storyline of the film revolves around the lives of three school going children who are depressed. Gautam (Amit Bagal), a greatly talented and happy-go-lucky boy goes into a shell after his father, a police inspector is shot dead by goons, Shreiya (Shreiya Gupta), along with her mother is thrown out of their house by alcoholic father ( masterly performance by Rakesh Gupta aka Bittu Paanwala) and is forced to work as a maid to take care of her ailing mother, while Palak (Anannya Verma) feels uncared after the death of her mother and is further traumatized by the PT instructor who tries to molest her. While teachers like Kesar Sir (played brilliantly by Naresh Kesar) are shown insensitive to children’s problem, a lady teacher Divya (played by Sarita Gupta) quietly observes the children and helps them to come out of respective depressions and live carefree life once again. All the cast of the film belongs to Jammu and everybody has performed respective roles very well.
The lyrics have been penned by Rahul Mishra and Ajay Raina from Mumbai while the music has been composed by Rahul Mishra. The background music which plays an important part in the film has been composed by local young talent Shubhdeep, son of Arvind, well known music composer of J&K. The film has nine songs and a beautiful prayer. ” I am getting lot of requests from schools to allow them to use the film’s prayer song as morning prayer for the schools”, said Jeyesh Gupta. He said that “I am extremely happy and feel honoured that the Director Schools, Jammu, along with team of more than 60 officers after watching the special screening of ‘Bacche Mann Ke Sacche’, were highly impressed by the manner in which film was successful in highlighting the general problems faced by the children in day to day life. The Directorate Schools has also allowed schools to watch the film. With the result two morning shows at Apsara Theatre, where the film is presently being shown, are reserved only for schools children who throng in large numbers and enjoy the movie.
“Children are enjoying the movie immensely as they are able to connect with the characters instantly. It is really a matter of pride that such an emotional movie with message a for the society, has been produced, directed, written and edited by a Jammuite, said a teacher from Shiksha Niketan, after seeing the film.
After Ved Rahi’s ‘Himmat’ a docu-drama in Dogri language concerning brave children, which was produced for Children Society for Films, ‘Bacche Mann Ke Sacche’, is a significant addition in the genre of Children Film by a filmmaker from J&K. The film for its universal relevance and appeal is surely to make its mark in children film festivals.
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