Sharib Hashmi and Shruti Bapna gear up for an unusual short film 'Kalabai From Byculla'

Mumabi: Director Saumitra Singh, who earlier helmed two award-winning short films, The Wallet and Painful Pride is all set with his third offering 'Kalabai From Byculla'. The film stars Sharib Hashmi, Shruti Bapna and Padmini Sardesai in the lead roles.

Actor Sharib Hashmi says, “ In Kalabai, I play a struggling artist who is yet to make his mark, however, the age is not on his side any more. As his younger brother is doing better than him professionally, his granny  is worried about him but his life changes upside down when something extraordinary happens in his life.”

“I had a great time working with Saum. I loved the way he thinks and the way he executes. He’s young and energetic and is always bubbling with ideas. I would love to collaborate with him in future,” Sharib feels about director Saumitra Singh.

Actress Shruti Bapna says, “Kalabai is a beautifully woven story of an artist's life that will amuse you. The role of Kalabai was such fun to play and working with Sharib and Saumitra raised the fun level all the more.”

Director Saumitra Singh says, “I really loved directing this beautiful story and being a part of this creation. Himan Joshi had shared this concept with me and I was so mesmerised by it that I discussed it with Shashwat Joshi Sir, who is the producer of this film, and he really loved the concept and immediately said yes to it. Later, I discussed with my writer friend, Namneesh Sharma and he jotted down the script in a very short period of time. The cherry on the top was to work with such great actors like Padmini Sardesai Ma'am, Sharib Hashmi and Shruti Bapna. They helped us to shoot this film in one day only.”

“My other actors Nanda Yadav, Rajat Arora, Simran Kaur Suri, Girish Sharma and Ritik Ghanshani are very close to my heart and they did justice to their characters. Hasan Khan is a friend cum executive producer, helped me to arrange everything at the set. My DOP, assistants, costume, casting, make up and technicians everybody present at the set had taken the helm of their responsibilities and helped us to create this beautiful film,” he adds

Producer Shashwat Joshi shares, When I heard the title for the first time, I was so fascinated and since I was looking for a good story to produce when I was in Lucknow, I decided to make it. This film is my first movie as an individual producer. Saumitra Singh, with whom I already worked in his short film The Wallet and co-produced it, contacted me for this project. I still remember that I immediately said yes to start this project as soon as possible. It was a pleasure working with him in this project as he is an amazing filmmaker, which reflects in his previous works also.”

“The story is written by Himan Joshi. Then, Namneesh Sharma jotted down the script. Padmini Sardesai Ma'am, Sharib Hashmi and Shruti Bapna did justice to their characters. This film was executed by Hasan Khan (Executive Producer) and with the help of assistants and other departments, this film was shot in one day. It was a hassle-free project, as the environment was very friendly on the sets.“ he concludes.