Brief Explanation

We observed a strange phenomenon. The world becomes a much better place in the three months leading up to the Cannes Lions festival every year. There's a surge in the number of creative ideas that selflessly impact the lives of those in need. People are fed, clothed, educated and their voices heard. But many of these ideas are abruptly discontinued in June, right after the awards are given out. This documentary film explores the views of the beneficiaries of these ideas and asks the all-important question: Why can't ideas that do good for humankind live longer than the awards? Why can't more ideas impact lives in a more sustainable way? The film ends with a simple, yet brilliant solution to the above mentioned problem.

Creative Execution

The idea was to give the film a real and documentary look and feel. Getting into the living spaces of the underprivileged characters in the film required us to shoot in the slums of Mumbai. Within their thin lanes, small quarters and in overpopulated localities. The film was shot in ‘Dharavi’ in Mumbai which houses one of the largest slums in the world. The casting and production design was another challenge. We had a mix of local cast and theatre actors all disguised with design and styling to reflect a sense of reality. All the kids were chosen from within the slums beforehand and rehearsed till the performances became natural. For the design, the production designer made some caps and posters and used local articles borrowed and rented to set up spaces and textures. Crowd management was another issue. In India, everyone wants to know what is being shot and a crowd gathers in no time. We had to pause our shoot once because someone objected as they thought that we are shooting ‘Slumdog’ part 2. It was a shoot and run scenario. Mostly we got away with simple explanations and a polite word. We shot in available light or with tiny portable lights, small crew and no monitors and fans while shooting in the extreme summer heat of Mumbai. The production was challenging but rewarding and fun. Needless to say, we had an absolutely tiny budget to do all this as our client was an NGO itself.