We are at a time when we couldn’t be more disconnected from our agrarian roots. Mannu (Soil), a poignant, slick short film by a bunch of city-based IT professionals, drives home the point of the distance and the disconnect between nature and man in modern society.
Created by 12 young film enthusiasts of Zentapps IT Services, under the banner of Zentapps Pictures, the film is a 15-minute satire that describes the plight and emotions of a school boy who is trying to plant a mango sapling that he got from his environment club in school. Living in a high rise surrounded by paved walkways and landscaped environs it’s a struggle for him from the word go. Throw in indifferent adults who should know better and the youngster’s dreams of feasting on mangoes from his own tree quickly whither.
“We had been toying with the idea of making a portmanteau film based on the ‘panchabhootham’ (five element) concept, namely mannu (soil), jalam (water), akasham (sky), vayu (wind) and agni (fire). Then we came to know that the United Nations and Food and Agriculture Organisation had declared 2015 as ‘International Year of Soil’ and decided to kick-start the project. We all have such cherished memories of childhoods spent playing outside in our gardens and in the fields in and around Kadakkal, Kollam, where most of us hail from. We really feel for the children of today who grow up in environs where they can’t even touch the soil,” says Anas Abdul Gafoor, who produced the film. Sangeeth Dileep has directed it based on a short story by Abaneendra Nath, a co-writer of well-known novelist and scriptwriter Santosh Aechikanam. Interestingly, there are no dialogues in the short – a deliberate choice, according to the youngsters. “The visuals speak for itself,” explains Anas. Indeed, the stunning photography (by Akhil Gopan) captures the youngster’s pathos quite well.
Buoyed by the acclaim that their film is getting at several environmental film festivals, the techies hope to finish the portmanteau this year itself. They will soon begin work on the agni segment. Titled Sadharanakkaranum Sadacharavum , it’s a take on moral policing. The segment on water is planned as a comedy on gender equality, while the other two, vayu and akasham, are in the scripting stages. “All of us have prior experience in the film field where we worked as associates and assistants to directors, cameramen, editors and the like and we all dream of a future in the industry,” adds Anas.
