The Hindu Business Line : Paranjpe's new film aims to teach kids a `green lesson'

SHARAD Pawar recently took time off from politics to pick up a broom and do some cleaning up around him. Surprised? But then, that is exactly what film maker Sai Paranjpe, always known for her out-of-the-box style, wanted for the promo of her latest film, aptly named Chakachak (spotlessly clean).

Chakachak is a children's film unlike most others in that it deals with a topic that address itself to the environment and the conservation of our immediate surroundings, a topic which Paranjpe points out, is of relevance to everybody young and old.

What is important is that the film maker has made a film revolving around children, who she says, are the inheritors of our world and thus the people who can contribute to its conservation immensely.

And as for Pawar's broom act at the film's premiere at the National Film Archives here, "political will coupled with an overall awareness of issues by all segments of society is what we need to pull up our socks and get to work on cleaning up our surroundings."

The film, scheduled for a December release, is woven around a bunch of schoolchildren who decided to take up the job of keeping their neighbourhood clean when the adults in the locality have given up on it.

Paranjpe uses every trick in the book, including an expensive and interesting animation sequence depicting the impact of pollution on the Taj Mahal, Bollywood-style dishum-dishum and even some bits of documentary, to come out with a slick story that grabs the audience by the eyeballs.

"Today's kids are much more mature than the kids of the 80s and 90s and can't be talked down to as children's film makers did then. Instead, I realised you have to use their language and their slang to keep them involved," says Paranjpe, who has used new technology in films to keep the audience hooked.

"Making a film on a Rs 35-lakh budget from the Children's Film Society of India is very unrealistic," says the film maker who is believed to have made this film on a Rs 1-crore plus budget, helped by a number of NGOs interested in the subject.

As for the rationale of making a film on cleanliness and environment for children, Paranjpe says that the thought came to her on one of her daily walks.

"There is no place one can walk for a breath of fresh air since there is garbage, and animal and human excreta all over our open spaces and all we adults can do about it is throw up our hands in despair. I decided then that the younger generation, who will inherit this earth, are best equipped early on in life to deal with the issue."

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