Mumbai (The Hawk): Instead of making people sympathize with our characters, we want to celebrate our subjects and make them rock stars, said Prince Shah, Director of documentary ‘Moon on the Man’. “We were cautious of not showing the audience the character’s flaws. The two characters in the documentary came to our life. We started following them and not the other way around. Eventually the characters become part of our family”, he said. Prince Shah was addressing the media and delegates at #MIFFDialogue held in connection with the 17th edition of Mumbai International Film Festival. Borun Thokchom, Director of documentary ‘I Rise’, Anshul Pandey, Producer of ‘Moon on the Man’and Vaibhav, Cinematographer of ‘Moon on the Man’ also participated in the press conference.
Following the genesis of his documentary, Prince Shah said that ‘Moon on the Man’ questions two people’s reality. “ One is Praklawn, the youngest freedom fighter of India who later worked with Guru Dutt, the great film maker. Second subject is Master Shylesh, the busiest child actor of his times. He has acted in around 55-60 films as a child actor. Since the last 30-40 years he is living on the streets. The film questions their realities and deal with lots of other issues,” he elaborated.
Making your subject comfortable with you and the camera is important while shooting documentaries, said Borun Thokchom, Director of ‘I Rise’. “ Bonding with the subject is very important to make the documentary unique. It will take time. It took about five to six years to shoot. Quality matters more than quantity, ” he added. ‘I Rise’ narrates the life of woman Pugilist Laishram Sarita Devi from Manipur.
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Brief on the films
Moon on the Man
Moon on the Man is an observational feature-length documentary, which questions the most basic principles of reality, perception and choice through the lives of two characters. Through a focus on mental illness, old age and broken dreams, the film explores the individual's struggle to find direction in an ever-changing landscape of time and perspective.
I Rise
Born in a poor family, Laishram Sarita Devi, a mother, a woman Pugilist, spared no effort to become a celebrated sports star of International fame. She came to limelight as the first Indian professional woman boxer after she became a mother. Despite her fame and glory, she is passionate about empowering people who are marginalized and runs an academy that trains and encourages destitute children to create an identity through Boxing. The story elaborates on the predicament, where she navigates between her mission and her relationship with her beloved son Tomthil. This is the story of the conflict between a mother and a change maker.
About the Directors:
Prince Shah started his career in cinema as an assistant director on Indian and international films including Tener (2020), Sense8 (2015-2018) and Gully Boy (2019). His short films as a director include 2733 See You On The Other Side, which won the Audience Choice Award at the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images Festival (2011), Moon on the Man is his first feature length documentary as a producer and director.
Borun Thokchom is a national award winning film maker and has more than a decade of experience in television journalism. He also worked as cinematographer for NHK World, Japan for a documentary series on WWII titled “Battle of Imphal”. He also worked as Line Producer for Kavithalayaa Productions’ musical documentary series featuring AR Rahman on Amazon Prime video. His latest documentary film I RISE is receiving awards at several national and international film festivals.