Hardly any child or young adult (YA) content coming out of India. Gone are the days when we had CFSI [Children’s Film Society, India] To bring you incredibly watchable content with great storytelling [especially when Bhimsain, Jaya Bachchan, Gulzar saab were there], for example, Potli Baba Ki or meticulously cast, written and dubbed jungle Book In the 90’s. Then there was Sai Paranjpe and NCYP [National Centre of Films for Children and Young People] It did some amazing things – from beautiful YA stories of Gopi Desai growing up, love and loss, such as Will you be my friendAK Bir’s Oriya film Lavanya Preetiand the delightful Raghubir Yadav-starrer fell from the sky,
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The subjects were varied, almost like an extension of Gulzari Saab‘s books Or Satyajit Ray Piku-R Dino Tried to: Awaken a young mind’s perception about the world around. Often adult, tough and rigid, yet with the flexibility of a child. Is this a piece of my nostalgia about my childhood years? No, what I’m trying to say is that once Jaya Yes And Sai Madam left, there was a great silence. A few years later, there was Amol Gupte. But that was it.
Stills of ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge’, ‘Potli Baba Ki’ and ‘Piku’
Who is putting the kids first?
Does the non-state sponsored sector think of children and young adults in India when it comes to viewing content? No, they, at best, make a Small Bhima either child Ganesha, Puranas are a different genre. country consumes it, but it is No Children’s material. It’s equally wrong to assume that if it’s animated, it has to be for kids.
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i teach film [at Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata, and Whistling Woods, Mumbai] For influential young minds. Almost every batch is amazed when they see Persepolis,Sita sings sad [which are more than a decade old] or recently Bombay Rose by Geetanjali Rao [2019] ,
something to remember
flight, return of hanuman, Stanley’s Box, Kapali, Little Zizhou, Juze, nimtoho, musk (my personal favourite), by Umesh Kulkarni ValueAnd Vihiro, fandry and Sudhir Mishra Alexander – A football film based on Kashmir – There are others.
Gitanjali has the ability to weave mainstream into the animated universe, and tell a compelling story of forbidden love – with all its political undertones of gender and community. watch her printed rainbow To see his childlike ‘cat’ side. either Orange To explore gender presets and fight back that are a part of a woman’s daily routine in a man’s world.
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Is this all young adult material? well almost. Is such material trending in India? No, to set a trend, there has to be a stream of movies and shows. We don’t have anything. We lack makers with vision.
My son is 21 years old now, and is fond of movies. i remember showing her [Iranian film] children of heaven when he was eight years old. She later told her friends at school about it, and suddenly I called her teachers because everyone wanted to see it. They refused to see Indian content – except rare Printed Rainbow or Jaane Bhi Do Yaro – Because he wondered ‘why can’t they tell us stories that belong to us?’. Children want a compelling story that is well made, and that respects the person who is watching it.
‘Printed Rainbow’
Check out what they’re watching today – even their YouTube videos are pungent. If you give them teddy content, why will they see it? The idea that kids will see anything is no longer flying. Maybe one should check out Dutch, Iranian, Japanese and Chinese cinema to see how one can be indigenous yet really be involved in the emotional world of a child or a young adult.
Anupama Bose, a producer-curator, is the managing partner of Makhijafilms.