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Crowd-funding and crowd-sourcing are relatively new concepts in the Indian film industry. Instead of taking funding from just friends and relatives, young film-makers have begun taking help from others, who are driven by the passion to make films.
Sai Chakravarthi is attempting the first ever crowd-funded film project. Chakravarthi, who worked as an assistant director for a Kannada crowd-funded film Lucia, has readied a project in Telugu.
“I have worked for the Kannada movie and learnt a few lessons in making a crowd-funded movie. In Telugu, we have decided to take resources (shooting spots and other infrastructure) from the public,” Chakravarthi, who has just begun to spread the word on the project, told Business Line .
Idi Modalu (This is the beginning) is about different stages of human life – childhood, teenage, youth, middle-age and old age. Five young directors will direct each of the stages. Each stage will have 30 minutes of story, making it a full-length feature film.
The other four directors are Mahesh Kathi, Rupak Ronaldson, Hari Shankar and Uday Gurrala. The directors will select the cast and technicians for the film from talented aspirants.
“We will finalise the cast and technicians for the project after screening the profiles. We will pitch for shooting spots based on the requirements for the script. People can send pictures of the locales they can offer for the project,” he said.
This, however, is not the first attempt in making a crowd-funded film. A young director Dakshin Srinivas had attempted to make one last year. “But I dropped the idea after I got an offer to make a mainstream movie. I’m busy with that project,” Srinivas said.
Financial aspects The tentative project cost is put at Rs 50 lakh. The film-makers are targeting to raise this by offering ‘pledges’ to the investors. Pledges are in the form of DVDs, Blue Ray and others. “Their names will be shown on the screen, acknowledging their role in making the movie. We are planning to offer packages that include Rs 3,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 5 lakh,” Chakravarthi said.
He claimed that the Lucia makers could raise the required funds just in 27 days. “I’m expecting a similar response here too. I have worked on the project for six months and it will take six months more to complete it,” he said.
> kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in
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