Cinema enthusiasts from Coimbatore find new muse in demonetisation

The group, comprising director Rajeshwar, scriptwriter (and actor) Prasanna Balachandran (37), cinematographer S. Sujith (20) and actors Chella (35), Arun Kumar (25) and Sasi Kumar (20) became friends three years ago through a film club. 

But it was a more pertinent issue that actually got them working on scripts and filming. Seeing the harsh impact of demonetization, Chumma Nachiki decided to throw light on certain aspects of the note ban that the policy makers failed to consider. 

They made a series of short films running from two to 10 minutes, each time a new announcement was made. “We shot the first film 500 & 1000 Sellathu Sellathu and released it on Facebook on Nov 10. The film is about how desperate people were trying to get rid of their demonetised notes,” Rajeshwar told DT Next.

This was followed by Don’t Panic on Nov 16 and Kola Pasila Iruken released on Nov 25 which got over 5,00,000 views. Their magnum opus was Panam Brammasmi that runs for close to 10 minutes. “It took us a few days to shoot it as it was professionally done, edited, but it was worth the effort as the teaser alone got over 10 lakh views,” added the director. 

The group is not looking at political activism, but simply wants to communicate the problems of people to the centre. As depicted in their last film, Vallarasu Jayanthi which released on December 29, it shares the opinions of people like a cobbler, sanitary worker, etc., on what they expect from a growing economy like India.