Short film – ‘Kanche aur Postcard’ by Ridham Janve is an official selection at the India’s biggest film festival, 44th IFFI (International Film Festival of India) to be held in Goa from 20th to 30th November.

The film is one of the 16 non-feature films to be selected in the prestigious ‘Indian Panorama’, which showcases the best Indian films made in the past two years.

Organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the festival will be attended by the biggest who’s who of the film industry.

The 10 day long festival will show 325 films from different parts of the world, including this year’s greatest films like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Oh my God, Pan Singh Tomar and Ship of Theseus.

‘Kanche aur Postcard’ is about childhood in the alleys of a small town. An everyday, lighthearted story of a boy wanting and being denied a game of marbles while on vacation.

Through its innocence and simplicity, it explores deeper themes of class, caste, control and acceptance. The film also reminds us of the often-overlooked yet very essential differences of perception and understanding between children and adults.

Director of the film, 27-year-old Ridham Janve grew up in Udaipur and had distinct memories of a childhood, which he wanted to put across through this film.

The film was shot in Udaipur last year with local actors and non-actors. “It was a great opportunity to get a chance to tell a story in the spaces where I grew up.”

With a minimal crew and budget, the film was shot on location in various streets of the old city.

Ridham said, “We wanted a realistic feel in the film and had to shoot many shots on the streets with real people. And everyone was extremely cooperative and supportive at the filming”.

The famous industrialist of Nathdwara, Madan Paliwal produced the film under the banner of Miraj Entertainment Limited.

Ridham told UT, “On hearing the story for the first time, Madan Paliwal got very interested in the project and was extremely happy to see the result. The film features Pradhuman Singh Choudhary, a fifth grade student of Maharana Mewar Vidya Mandir, as the protagonist of the film”

MMVM’s Mohammad Sahil, Yash Bhatnagar, Yug Bhatnagar, Khushraj, Divij play other important roles in the film.

Children from Miranda Secondary School and Secondary School, Shobhagpura also participated as actors and did a great job with their natural acting skills. Other experienced theatre actors of the City as Sateesh Aashi, Usha Rani Bhatnagar and Vilas Janve also play important roles in the film.

Udaipur’s Saurabh Vyas who was also a fellow student of Ridham in National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad where they studied filmmaking, did Art Direction of the film. Samarth Janve has composed the music for the film. The songs of the film were sung by the children themselves with other talents of the city like Bhuvan Sharma, Nidhi Parik Janve and Ashok Gandharva.

‘It is an honor to be invited to IFFI with my first independent film. This will be a great starting point for the film to go to other international film festivals and gain a larger audience’, says Ridham. The film is also an official selection at the 18th International Children’s Film Festival of India, Hyderabad starting from 14th to 20th November.

Also read – Pradhuman: The 9-year-old budding star of Udaipur

Studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ridham is son of famous Artist Vilas Janve. Ridham is currently working on the script of his first feature film. Informing more about the project, Ridham said “I am writing it in collaboration with my friend Akshay Singh, a screenwriter from NFTS, London. It is a musicial road movie, about traveling, freedom, society and love.”

Speaking on the future plans, Ridham said, “We will keep making films and will try finding new ways to tell stories, exploring the medium, seeking new stories and new form.” He added “I am not too fond of the exploitation of the film medium by the mainstream film industry of the country. Rarely, newer content or newer form is used in these films.”

While talking about cinema, Ridham said, “I feel cinema as a medium has totally been misinterpreted there. A new wave in Indian Cinema is long awaited, which I believe is not going to happen overnight. What young and fresh filmmakers can do is simply to keep playing their part well and keep telling stories that are closest to their heart.”