Irfan Kamal for separate theatres to show realistic movies

Mumbai: Irfan Kamal, director of national award winning ‘Thanks Maa`, dealing with a ragpicker`s journey to unite an abandoned baby with his mother, has advocated the need for having separate theatres to show "realistic movies.""The makers of a movie with a different theme in India have to struggle for proper release date and show timings. In the US, or Europe, there are theatres which exclusively show realistic movies. There is a dire need for such theatres in India also," Irfan told reporters.

"When a movie like `Thanks Maa` is to hit screens, we have to ensure that it does not coincide with big releases, so as to keep the film unaffected. Also, getting a producer or distributor for such a movie is difficult," he rued. Only when we have dedicated cinema, a movement would be started for good movies in the country, Irfan felt. The Hindi film, premiered at IFFI 2008 is expected to be released later this month, or in March, he said. On taking up direction after a brief but unsuccessful stint in front of the camera, Irfan said he always wanted to deal with real and appealing subjects and hence chose to pick up the issue of rag pickers, slum kids and abandoned children. "As per a research, about 12.56 million children live on streets in our country. Like them, the issue also seemed to be abandoned. So I decided to present it on big screen." "But I did not want it to be dull and documentative. It conveys a message with a fun element in it," Irfan said. On the experience of making the movie, he says finding children with a residential address was not that easy. "We auditioned across Mumbai. The kids used to disappear after a day`s shoot. Tracing them back was problematic." "Finally, we zeroed in on Salman, Faiyaz, Jafer and Almaz, who live in a slum in Bandra east, he said adding the fifth child was Shams Patel, his nephew who has won the national trophy for best child artist." Once they were shortlisted, they were made to undergo a workshop for two months. During and after this training, we addressed them by the names of their characters in the movie so that they get used to it, Irfan said. While Shams has won a national, the other four are completely oblivious to what the award means. "They don`t know what a national award is. They only know Oscars," he said adding they continue to live in slums. So, does he plan to play a Danny Boyle to them? "I would certainly like to work for the welfare of the underprivileged children provided my movie does at the Box Office as we do not have big names like Paramount or Fox behind us." "We are already taking care of the education of their children," he added. PTI