The whole movie revolves around a prank between a couple and their common friend. But, a strong message underlies. That makes Gift of Sex, the short film written and directed by Shambhu Sajith and Aswani Dravid, unique. As the title suggests, the movie talks about a ‘gift of sex’, perhaps an unwanted gift —Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD). And, it goes on to show how the couple panics when Herpes, an STD, becomes a topic on their wedding anniversary.
Most of you must have taken your phone and googled Herpes while reading this. This has been the kind of response when Aswani uploaded the film on YouTube. “Majority of comments read — ‘how many of you have googled Herpes after watching this?” says Aswani.
“The Google doctor may not provide you with the right information. In Gift of Sex, the character also does the same and panics seeing no treatment options on Google. This is our situation. We don't even know whom to consult in such a condition,” she explains.
The story is inspired by real life. “This happened to our two friends who are a couple. They wanted to pull a prank on each other on their wedding anniversary day and separately approached their common friend to seek help. He suggested the STD idea to both and then this whole funny episode happened as portrayed in the movie,” says Aswani. Their story made Shambhu and Aswani think.
“Our government has been giving awareness on AIDS since the 90s. But, people still believe AIDS is the only sexually transmitted disease, which is wrong. It is just one of the many diseases that happen through unprotected sex. Neither our educational institutions nor media or government try to change this attitude. For us, sex is still a taboo," she says.
So, the team decided to film this real-life event to pass on this message.
“The film says STD is a big category comprising many viruses and one has to use a condom while having sex. Condoms are used not only to avoid pregnancy but also to safeguard one from STDs,” she says and adds, “There are plenty of awareness videos. But, they would either be melancholic or preachy.
A youngster may prefer watching something exciting and light. Hence, we adopted the style of clubbing entertainment with knowledge.”
Gift of Sex released in June and has so far garnered more than 3.5 lakh views on YouTube. RJ Milja of Radio Mirchi, Aravind, a theatre artiste, and Shambhu, the director himself, have played the three key roles. Shambhu has earlier done two short films, I am gay and I am bleeding – which is about menstruation.
