VKAAO: New lease of life to independent cinema

The advent of VKAAO, PVR Cinemas’ theatre on-demand service that allows moviegoers to decide the film they want to watch at a theatre nearby, has provided a new lease of life to the independent cinema movement in India. As soon as the minimum required number of tickets is sold, the show gets confirmed. The viewers can also invite their friends for the screenings. While VKAAO isn’t limited to indie releases alone and also includes regional films, classics, Hollywood flicks, documentaries, Oscar-nominated movies as well as recently released blockbusters, it is interestingly the indie filmmakers who are best exploring the platform’s true potential. Ever since the launch of the service, a lot of indie films have managed to see the light of the day. Most of these films would have otherwise found it tough to get a theatre release.

Rima Das’ National Award-winning film Village Rockstars, which is also India’s official entry for the 2019 Oscars, is the latest indie film to be released through the VKAAO platform. Now, a recent indie film that has tasted great success after being released through VKAAO is Sourabh Shrivastav’s Play This. The film is produced under the banner of Tortoise Motion Pictures, an indie production house which Shrivastav co-owns together with his long-time friends Anupama Shakya and Pushpendra Tiwari. The film has so far been released in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Bilaspur, Raipur, Bhilai, Indore, Kolkata, Bhopal and Chandigarh through VKAAO. “VKAAO is a highly democratic platform launched in Indian by PVR Cinemas. Not many filmmakers in the country are aware of it yet. I think it is a wonderful initiative for filmmakers who lack financial support,” explains Tiwari.

Play This, starring a bunch of newcomers, is essentially a musical drama revolving around a band called Qabila whose members often find themselves at loggerheads with one another. The band is controlled by its dictatorial and self-centered song writer, Rajat (Abhishek Mahendru), who sees himself above any competition. He advocates that every member must function as per the role assigned by him and doesn’t even let his talented step-sister, Antara (Shalini Vishnudev), to write lyrics for the band. But when their shrewd band manager, Gomasta (Animesh Shrivastav), forces them to participate in a competition titled War of the Bands in Sri Lanka, he begins to loosen his grip on the band as a popular singer. Kabeer (Harsh Dubey) tries to make his way into the band. Greed, jealousy and insecurity are the three themes central to Play This. “I wanted my characters to be as human as possible and I feel greed, jealousy and insecurity are the emotions which make us human. If one gets rid of these prime emotions, he becomes the enlightened one, the Buddha. I feel that this is the journey we are supposed to go through in our lives,” reveals writer-director Shrivastav.

As far as Indian cinema is concerned, it was Abhishek Kapoor’s film Rock On!! that started a new trend of films based on bands and musicians. But since then, not many films have managed to live up to the promise. This perhaps has to do with the high standards set by the Farhan Khan starrer. Even Rock On 2 failed to woo the audiences. “When Sourabh told me that he was writing something about a rock band, the first name came to my mind was that of Rock On!! I was extremely sure that if we tell people that we are making a film about a rock band, it is bound to get compared with Rock On!! But once Sourabh narrated it to me, I found it to be a human drama in which the characters are by chance the members of a rock band,” explains Shakya.

Play This has seven original songs, all written and composed by Sourabh Shrivastav, which include numbers like “Spiderman”, “Dhang Acche Hain”, and “Main Nashedi”. “In three of the main characters, Antara, Rajat and Kabeer are songwriters and I wanted their characters to get reflected in their lyrics. For instance, Rajat’s lyrics reflects his angst and dominating attitude while Antara’s songs reveal that she is a rebel and Kabeer’s songs tells about his tendency of seeking the deepest truths of life,” tells Shrivastav. A major segment of the film is shot in Sri Lanka. The beautiful shores and landscapes of the island nation are perfect additives.

The overall response to Play This so far has been overwhelming. “Film and music students are really loving it. What I can notice is people are enjoying the dialogues and songs the most. In cities like Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata, people are talking about the themes and they are finding it really fresh in terms of narrative,” explains an upbeat Shrivastav. Buoyed by the response, the makers intend to keep on screening the film across the country. Next, Play This is slated to have a few more screenings in Mumbai, even as the makers are trying hard to secure a digital release for the film in the coming months