SHEESH MAHAL - AN AMBITIOUS FILM SET IN THE BACKDROP OF A CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL

Sheesh Mahal is an independent Telugu film set in the backdrop of the international children's film festival which happens in Hyderabad once in 2 years. Four people’s lives are connected with the film festival - a rag picker, a documentary filmmaker, a girl from Khammam and a canteen supervisor in an old single screen.

 

We have a chat with the film's director Sasi about this unique idea,

 

"We started this film SHEESH MAHAL in 2013, with the ambition of making a quality film on a very low budget. An anthology of 4 stories connected with the festival is the idea. With the financial support of friends & family members, we shot all the required scenes in the festival atmosphere. V S Gnana Sekhar is the D.o.P of the film.

 

Shooting days were only 27 and the film features almost 20+ new actors. We shot in 30+ locations in Hyderabad city in “Guerrilla filming” style. We shot with a 5D without any additional equipment, conventional lighting setup or production setup.

 

We finished shooting, editing & dubbing in a little less than 7 lakhs. Right now post production is in progress. A further 4 lakhs were spent as advance payments for the post-production studios & technicians. We need close to 15 lakhs more to finish the film, which includes festival submissions also. The idea is to use funds from crowd sourcing and we are in that process now.

 

After finishing the film, our first plan is to send it to as many festivals as possible. We are also planning to pitch the film to Phantom Films Mumbai & Drishyam Films who released MASAAN.

 

We have 2 Hindi songs in the film written by acclaimed actor, lyricist, composer & screenwriter Piyush Mishra, for free. Indie filmmaker & D.o.P Rajeev Ravi (Dev D, Gulaal, Gangs of Wasseypur fame) has promised us to help in promotion with his resources.

 

It’s a very urban film and Hyderabad has never been seen the way we shot it. After “Hyderabad Blues” & “Anand”, SHEESH MAHAL will be talked about for its authenticity, we are hoping. We are planning at least 10 “paid previews” for friends & cine enthusiasts. This being a very local Hyderabadi film, we are hoping on a good turn out for SHEESH MAHAL's private screenings. These screenings will help us as sample shows to know the audience reaction."

 

Sasi is a big fan of Ram Gopal Varma, Mira Nair and also likes Myyskin and Dhanush in the Tamil film space. He plans to increase awareness about the film's crowd funding initiative with the help of Tamil cinema celebrities such as Venkat Prabhu, Praveen KL and SP Charan. We wish him good luck.