Home truths on film

Five spirited couples in a compactapartment block, a video camera and some freaky fundas. And out came a homevideo, . It all beganwhen some ordinary folks with not so ordinary ideas found their beer and picnicweekends too cool for comfort. Satish Menon, credit manager, TajResidency with Aravind Nayak, an engineer at Chemtex Consultants, came up withthe idea to shoot a home video, complete with a storyline and script, allindigenously. It was just the sort of thing they needed to get their weekendafternoons going. Quickly, they convinced the rest, better halves included, tosign up.The movie is about five families and life in an apartmentcomplex, Lords. It begins with five boys working in a software firm. They meetfive girls (their wives in real time), romance some and then marry. Finding aneed for a larger home, they pool in their resources and build an apartmentcomplex with a flat for each family. The story meanders through the travails ofliving in a community and has elements of comedy, thrills and family drama.Laced with slapstick humour and inspired by everyday conditions in cosmopolitanBangalore, it is fast-paced and strikes a chord with audiences.Theentire movie was shot on a budget of Rs 1,000. "We spent more on the food we hadoutside on shoots than on making the movie," says Monica, one of the stars.Directed by Aravind and shot in Lucid IT Solutions, a friend''s office, theirapartment, and outdoors, the movie was made with one video camera, a PC, a VCRand, of course, lots of goodwill and friendship.Well-made for afirst effort, the screenplay is slick and the movie entertaining. It focuses onthe sentiments of ordinary folks, and sends out the message that camaraderie andharmony with neighbours in an apartment makes for betterliving.Satish and his team plan to take this forward. "We did thisjust to liven up weekends. But now we are looking for sponsors or producers toget this movie into the theatres or on TV", he says. "Everybody who has seen itsays it''s great. We will shortly be arranging more screenings", saysAravind.Also, Bangalore is known to take to fads like fish to water.So, more home videos could be on the way, leading to another dimension inentertainment.