Dead End: Designed to disturb

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/989627.cms" alt="/photo/989627.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">And I take a deep breath and I get real high</span><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">And I scream from the top of my lungs</span><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">What''s going on?</span><br /><br />A guy stretched on a cot, a girl singing the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Four Non-Blondes</span>’ song and chasing presumably heroin or cocaine. As the drug begins taking hold, there is a close up shot of someone stapling his tongue, of a guy bleeding through his nose, while another stops millimetres from puncturing her eye with a syringe. <br /><br />Disturbing images? Music director-turned film director Sandeep Chowta is satisfied with how the audience is reacting to his debut movie <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dead End</span>. "The film is meant to disturb, its not to entertain," says the debutante. <br /><br />As to why he wants people to be disturbed, Chowta says, "There are so many youngsters who would try all this just to be cool, or just because they think once doesn''t hurt. This movie is to show them how anything can happen when a trip goes bad."<br /><br />The director did not wake up one fine morning and decide to make the film. He was approached by the Mumbai-based NGO, Passages to make the film. <br /><br />Why did he agree? "I understood the subject and could immediately visualise it," explains Chowta. "I could clearly see what I wanted to show, what message I wanted to send out. That is why we could wrap it in one day," he continues. <br /><br />A one-day shoot with five first-timers before the camera. Wasn''t it difficult? "Not really," replies Chowta, "They were nervous but we had all discussed what we wanted to do. In fact we had pre-decided everything — from the greenish tinge that the movie has, to where everyone would be standing."<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/989628.cms" alt="/photo/989628.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />So how is he planning to spread the message? "I am requesting cinema halls, schools and colleges to show the film. The target audience is the youth and it would be the best way to get across to them."<br /><br />But isn''t the film too graphic for schools? "It needs to be graphic. There are a lot of people who do drugs as a weekend thing, or say "Let''s do it on a holiday". It needs to be graphic to show the first-timers that even one person losing control when trying the drugs can be very dangerous."<br /><br />Does he have any other film in mind? "Yes, after this there is another with a social message. I have often felt that children today are growing up fast. Their childhood is lost. So that''s what my film will be about." <br /><br />And Bollywood? "I am doing another Ram Gopal Varma venture ''<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Rokda</span>'' being directed by debutant Ramesh Katkar. Then there are two South Indian movies, one of which is with Nagarjuna."<br /><br />While Chowta''s intentions are noble, let''s see if multiplexes, which run on tight schedules between each movie screened will find time to show his film. <br /><br />For the record, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dead End</span> stars all new-comers including former Viva girls Anushka Manchanda, Mahua Kamat, Gautam Nagrath, Sumit Mishra and Ben Thomas. </div> </div>