Radha Ganesan, coordinator of Asha Akshar focus group, wanted to make films portraying the condition of children who are kids of maidservants.
Shashi Rao from Ananya School is an old friend of mine. Children of maidservants, dhobis, vegetable vendors attend this school. In fact, Ananya is supported by ASHA. So I said why not have these very children featuring in the films. Shashi seemed to know just who I was looking for. Jayanti and Sharad were the first kids I saw. And I knew I had found my Kutti and the 'poor kid' for the 'merry-go-round' film. Lakshmi had brought all her 4 children to Bharati's house. Lakshmi is a young widow working as maidservant in Bharati's house. Her oldest daughter is about 10 years old, after who is Sharad, then Durga and the last of them is Jayanti.Kutti for us. While the older three go to Ananya, Jayanti is still very attached to her mother, so needs to be near her. She attends a local school. Though she may start going to Ananya this June onwards.
The kids are really bright. Sharad can do amazing cartwheels. He is so light on his feet that Shashi is wondering if he can get any kind of formal training in gymnastics. For three days before shoot, I called Lakshmi to say that they would be picked up from Bharti's house at 8am. Well Lakshmi did show up on time, but the kids decided that their clothes needed some ironing. After all they were acting in a movie! So there we were, the entire unit of about 20 people, waiting for the 'stars' of the film to show up in 'ironed' clothes! As for the kids looking cheerful.that's reality. Poor kids always make the most of everything nothing. If you want to know more about Sharad and Jayanti, you can write to shashi_ananya@hotmail.com
This was my first "virtual" experience. The journey began with the first teleconference with members of Asha Akshar focus group including Radha Ganesan, Guha Balasubramaniam, Vijay Sureshkumar, DP. My mouth spoke words, while my mind ran riot desperately seeking faces for those many voices that I heard. And the most defining moment came when Vijay kind of held my hand and walked me through cyber space. I was attempting to upload the first edits of the films. The films travelled from my computer at Bangalore right across the proverbial seven seas, to his, over minutes. It sure was a trippy cyberian experience thanks to the enthusiasm from everyone at Asha Akshar, which led me through the completion of the films.