India in a day – an impressive piece of documentary film-making work; to take around 365 hours of material to craft an 86 minute film by Scott Free Productions, Phantom Films, and Google, using crowdsourcing to obtain around 16,000 clips from people across India to document a single day was recently showcased at the BFI Southbank.
Directed by Richie Mehta from London, the film had an international crew with Executive Producers Ridley Scott, Anurag Kashyap and Carlo Dusi and top notch Indian Directors Zoya Akhtar and R. Balki as Creative Consultants.
“We were put together as a team. It was a whole new world for me because I was working in London,” quoted Richie. “I was awed by how beautifully shot and sophisticatedly filmed the footage that came in was, that is a technical aspect. What surprised me was how much humour there was coming from the not 'economically wealthy class.'”
“I was surprised by the high quality of a lot of the footage, showing the ubiquity of smartphone cameras that can record hi-def footage, said Simon a viewer. There are many people's stories covered in the film and it's like a living postcard from India. It's easy to be swept away in the images and find yourself wanting to go there, to experience the rich variety of culture,” he said.
The film deliberately did not follow the traditional documentary structure of research and a voice-over that gives crucial information to help frame what you're seeing.
“The overall feeling is of being given an honest glimpse into a fascinating country, full of people who are seem proud of their country and to be Indian. A view into a country that feels that it's arriving on the central global stage,” said Anita another audience.
“It's also heartening to see that for all the differences, that there are lots of similarities. Birthdays are celebrated with lots of cake and balloons. Families affected with trauma, like the man who's brother was suffering with brain cancer, stick together and support each other. There were many stories to be touched by and I was left with the feeling that I'd had a taster of India that had left me wanting more,” summarised Shirley from the audience.
