A dream comes true for city filmmaker

PUNE: He talks about the Dark Age of Indian democracy, that is, the Emergency, and looks at it from a teenager’s eyes. Meet 25-year-old Sujay Dahake, director and editor of Marathi film, ‘Shala’ (the school), which was screened at the 10th Pune International Film Festival (Piff) on Friday.
Getting a screening at the Piff was a dream came true for Sujay.“I have been watching films at the Piff for nine years. I always dreamt that one day my film will be screened here,” said Sujay. “I was amazed to see the audience sit on the floor and watch my movie. The theatre was packed beyond capacity which gave me a feeling of contentment. But the rush prevented me from watching my own film,” he said with a grin.
‘Shala’ is an adaptation of Milind Bokil’s novel of the same name. It is a riveting adolescent love story set in the 70s and explores different shades of adolescent love in rustic Maharashtra. “I read this novel in 2004 and throughout my student days I had this story in my mind. The idea of developing it into a feature film evolved with time. The film sees the Emergency period through the eyes of a teenager. We auditioned around 1,600 children for the roles of lead characters. The idea was to cast fresh faces to keep the innocence and originality of the characters alive,” said Sujay.
Sujay is a graduate of the University of Pune and has studied film semiotics from the University of Mumbai. He was also a student of the International Academy of Film and Television in Philippines. About the adaptation, Sujay says, “We have tried to be as close as possible to the book, barring a few points where the book interrupts the natural flow of the movie-making process.”
The film is shot by Spanish cinematographer Diego Romero. “He (Romero) gave the film a very cold tone. The exploration of colours and hues of Indian landscape through the eyes of a foreigner has brought a very interesting nuance to the movie, which otherwise would have been missed out by an Indian eye,” said Sujay. The muted colours and the contrasts created by Romero’s photography give the film an international look. Besides direction, Sujay has also looked after editing. ‘Shala’ is competing in the Marathi film section at the Piff.
(Shala will be screened at City Pride R-Deccan at 3.00pm on Sunday)