Keekli Reporter, 23rd December, 2016, Shimla
Secret Corridor Pictures has proudly announced their next film project, Pashi, a film being made in the regional language of Himachal Pradesh, Pahari. The film is being produced and directed by multiple award winner, film maker Siddharth Chauhan from Shimla and has a local Chapslee boy Chetan Kanwar in the lead role.
The shooting for the film started on 15th December and wrapped up on the 25th. The chosen location has been Village Khalawan in Sunta family’s Numberdar Lodge in Rohru. It is an old beautiful wooden building with rich and unique pahari architecture and charm.
The film crew is small and close knit with just ten members. Mridul Surbhi is the first assistant director and Shefali Chauhan the second assistant director. The Production Manager is Ankit Rathore. Yashwant Kumar Sharma is the man behind the lens and Sound Recording has been done by Tanmaya Das.
The cast includes Chetan Kanwar, a student of Chapslee School, Shimla and John Negi, a fitness model/actor from Rampur.
Says Siddharth, the director, “Chetan will surprise everyone with his effortless acting and brilliant performance”. Chetan was selected after several rounds of audition and was considered for his natural charm and expertise in delivering in time constraints.
Pashi, which in local dialect means a trap for birds/animals, is a story about a young boy who gets fascinated by the idea of trapping birds and starts experimenting with it. There comes a time when he tries to misuse the trap on the people in his life and lands himself in an inescapable situation only to realise that he can never be smarter than life that has its own ways to entrap us.
The film draws inspiration from the childhood experiences of Siddharth who learned about Pashi from the local boys, while he grew up in Dhanoti. Hunting was then considered manly and courageous. Siddharth, a practitioner of Buddhism, found himself surrounded by this form of violence. He openly criticised and spoke about the practice and condemned this disrespect towards wildlife and their right to live and flourish. He describes his venture as bold and hard hitting and like in the past follows an unconventional pattern in this film as well.
Siddharth’s foray into film making was four years ago. He has an innovative and bold style. All his films have showcased the culture, talent and scenic beauty of Himachal and has propagated the same in countries like Sarajevo, England, USA, Belarus, Italy, Durham, Indonesia, Paris and New Zealand. He happens to be the first independent film maker from Himachal who has consistently taken his locally produced films outside India and won accolades for the same. It is noteworthy that Siddharth has no professional training in the field.
Siddharth’s film PAPA won the Best Film Award at the International Film Festival of Kerala. His film was acclaimed and praised for being a unique film which could accomplish an “Innovation in Narrative Gesture”. Besides PAPA, his films Boys Don’t Wear Nailpolish and The Infinite Space have performed exceedingly well with the former being invited by the Carolina Theatre Group in US and the latter premiering at the University of Manchester, UK.
With Pashi, Siddharth is likely to add another feather in his cap or a precious jewel in his crown!
