On a mission to dispatch Shimla all over the world

Thiruvananthapuram: Siddharth Chauhan has taken upon himself the mission of despatching a bit of Shimla to other parts of the world. On Tuesday, before his film ‘Papa’ won the best short fiction award at IDSFFK 2016, he told DC that all his life, he wanted to make films staying in Shimla. “Why can’t I use the resources that are available there?” he asks.

By resources, he means the ageless beauty of his tourist town, and not producers, or actors. When he goes out looking for sponsors, he finds it hard to explain what a short film is.“I take up part-time jobs and photography projects so that I can raise at least 60 per cent of the production money. Then I go looking for sponsors. When many people offer small contributions, it adds up to a big amount,” he says.

He describes himself as the first independent filmmaker from Himachal Pradesh to have taken his locally produced films outside India. “Even to this day, I get requests from international film festivals to send my film Boys Don’t Wear Nailpolish. Probably because it has a revolutionary mother who goes against gender stereotyping,” says Siddharth. The short fiction won the Golden Halo Award at the SCRIPT International Short Film Festival in 2014.

Mohit Singh Parmar, who plays the protagonist in ‘Papa,’ is the first professional actor Siddharth has worked with. The 23-year-old actor recently completed a feature film. “But ‘Papa’ would be my first release,” he says. “I would rather wait for three months for an actor from Himachal than go for a professional from another place. Even if it is a non-actor, if the person is willing to act, and fits the role, I will take the person on board,” says Siddharth. The 25-year-old started experimenting with films when he was 20.