Getting into reel business

A socio-political drama on contemporary India,and a psychological thriller,Buddha in a Traffic Jam,started off as a five to 10 minute short film meant for the festival circuit. “We pitched the idea with Vivek who had come to our campus for a workshop,he liked it and Ravi,who knew Vivek,pushed it for a full-fledged feature,” says Mohunta.

The point was: “Why do something small when it has the potential of being big?”

With this thought,the four,under their Friday Night Productions and co producers Phoenix Multidimensions Group and Vivek Agnihotri Creates,roped in 29 more students from the ISB and actors from Bollywood.

Planned for release in last quarter of this year,the film has been shot entirely on campus with actors Arunoday Singh,Anupam Kher,Mahie Gill and Pallavi Joshi among others living and experiencing life on campus along with the students. “They’ve been living here,attending classes,eating from the same canteen…and Arunoday is the perfect B-school student,” says Vivek.

According to him,the film works on two ideologies and each is pitted against the other. “Who are the beneficiaries of the so called liberalisation? All we have is an urban audience,where is the rural India? It’s as if 70 per cent have been dumped and forgotten and only 20-30 per cent represents the country…50 per cent of our country earns less than a dollar a day…this film raises fundamental questions just like these,” says Vivek,adding how the current generation rarely questions the murky politics of this country.

According to Vivek,this is the first time anywhere in the world that such a product is coming from the students of a B-School. “It’s an important film for it raises pertinent questions and it will stir controversy,but that’s the point,” he says.

Buddha in Traffic Jam is the story of Vikram Pandit (Arunoday Singh),a student of a top business school,who becomes the blue-eyed boy of Professor Jamshed Batki (Anupam Kher). Influenced by Batki,Vikram unwittingly starts publishing articles under his own name authored by Batki. The articles,which deal with contemporary India,are posted on his blog as well as facebook. Soon Vikram finds himself split between allies and opponents of the ideas he is professing.

While the script and screenplay is by Rahul Malhotra and Vivek,the students are spearheading the production,each bringing his/her own expertise into it. Ravi comes with five years in telecom R&D with leading telecom vendors,founded the NGO Green Commandos and conceptualised the film. Mohunta has a background in International Operations and is an audiophile,while Goel is an entrepreneur and Idani comes from world of consulting.