Ahmedabad: Gujarati film 'Chhello Show' or 'Last Film Show' has been nominated as India's official entry for Oscar Awards under the Best International Feature Film category. It was a proud moment for the Gujarat film industry as their film 'Chhello Show' beat SS Rajamouli's 'RRR' and Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Kashmir Files', which are in the race for Oscar nominations, and made it to the Academy Awards. To share the joy, Nalin Kumar Pandya aka Pan Nalin, who is best known for directing award-winning movies like 'Samsara', 'Valley of Flowers', and 'Angry Indian Goddesses', speaks to Rahul Trivedi of ETV Bharat in a tete-a-tete.
The year 2022 seems to be a fruitful one for the Gujarati film industry. Because, this time, not a Hindi film, but a Gujarati film 'Chhello Show' has been nominated for the Oscars. The film has been released in Gujarat as well as in other countries recently.
Q) What is the story of the 'Chhello Show'?
The 'Chhello Show' is the story of a small child. He goes to see the movie Mahakali for the first time and goes completely crazy. Because he had never seen any film in his life. After that, he drops out of school and becomes obsessed with films. He initially wants to make a film, but he finds it impossible. So, he tries to be a project operator. Meanwhile, he meets a projector operator and he befriends him and he was allowed to watch the movie for free as he offers his lunch box. Their friendship then grows stronger, but little do they know that a big change is about to happen. This is the story of the film.
Q) Where did the idea of making this film come from? Who is the child actor in it?
The story of 'Chhello Show' is seen in my childhood and another friend who was himself a project operator. Chhello Show is set in 2010, a time when India and most other countries replaced 35mm film with digital projection, which marked the end of an era. However, this was just the start of Samay's love affair with cinema. It was definitely heartbreaking for him to see the projector machine and the film reels being destroyed and recycled and made into different things. It was very important to have children in the film. So, in this film, many children from Amreli, Dhari, Talala areas of Saurashtra have auditioned. Out of these six children were selected, in which Bhavin Rabari is a child actor from Ahmedabad and he is the main lead.
Q) Will 'Last Film Show' will be released in other languages besides Gujarati?
'Last Film show', which was dubbed in Spanish, has been running in Spain for the past 12 weeks. While it will be released in Germany Israel, America, Japan, Italy. In India, the film was released in Gujarati and it is being dubbed into Hindi and it may also be dubbed into southern languages.
Q) How many child actors acted in the movie, did you face any problems?
When young children have no experience in acting and come from small villages, problems arise. This is a big challenge. But we took four to five months to train the children and they worked very hard. They have a lot of natural talent, so it was a relief for us. Now all the kids had to do was teach them how to act in front of the camera. Even in some of the dialogues, the children were allowed to go their own way. So, even those who do not have experience in acting have able to perform. So, a conducive atmosphere was created during the shooting.
Q) Was 'Last Film Show' shot in any other state besides Gujarat?
'Last Film Show' was mostly shot in Saurashtra where I grew up. Shooting has been done in the border villages of Amreli, Lathi, Chalala, Dhari, Sasangir while the climax was shot in Rajkot.
Q) Rahul Koli, the child actor in this film, recently passed away, so how was his performance?
Child artiste Rahul Koli was playing the role of one of the lead actor's friends. He acted very beautifully. Did a good job. He used to come to the sets with a lot of enthusiasm. He liked to be a light man. We told him that when he grows up we will take him to Mumbai and teach him to be a light man. Because he was still studying in school. Whenever the shooting of the film starts, he would also help us in arranging the lighting with the lightman. Two months ago we came to know that he was suffering from blood cancer.
At that time he was brought to Ahmedabad Hospital. Then all the people associated with this film reached the hospital for his help. He was also in constant contact with the doctor. We did a lot to save him but it was a disease out of our hands. So, he could not be saved.
