FNP Media’s next short film is Billu’s Flight is releasing on 6th August. This is based on a young boy from a small village in India and portrays his love for his pigeon. He wants to use it for a competition called ‘Kabutarbazi’ to pay off his farmer father’s debt.. Inspired by Mr. A P J Abdul Kalam’s famous quote “Pankho se kuch nahi hota hosole se udan hoti hai” (Your flight is measured not by yours wings but by your courage) the story shows his journey to win the competition. Suddenly his hopes are shattered when his pigeon goes missing. What happens next is revealed in the climax. The director and the producer of the film Mayank Tripathi speaks about his career and experience of working on this film.
He says,”I have been working as a DOP for 10 years and wanted to take a step further and grow as a film maker. So when I decided to make a short film, I was quite sure I wanted to create something that was realistic and would connect with the audience. The subject of Kabutar baazi came to my mind as this was a sport played in Agra where I hail from. As a child this was pleasing to my eyes, that’s how I conceived the idea of making Billu’s Flight.”
In the film we can see a young boy in the role of Billu – Lavi Tyagi. There is an interesting story behind his casting. Mayank adds,” When we started the pre-production for the film, we took many auditions in Delhi for Billu’s character, but none of the children appealed to me or I thought fit the character I was looking for. When we went to Baseda Taga ( a village in Muradabad) for reccee, I saw this kid Lavi Tyagi and there was something about him and his innocence that made me immediately cast him for my film. Though it was a difficult decision as he was not a trained actor. And the two main leads Rajveer Singh Gaur and Taruna Singh were theater artists from Mumbai.”
FNP media is one platform where we can see so many talented directors getting an opportunity to showcase their work. What do you have to say about that? “ It’s great to know that FNP media is helping all young and aspiring directors to showcase their stories on their platform. Also FNP media has a strong subscriber base so you feel proud to be associated with them and they make sure that your work is on the right platform.” He further adds,” Short films have redefined the future of Indian cinema. They convey strong emotions to the audience in a short duration. Also there is a strong connection with the characters as they are focused through out the film. It is a great platform for all the aspiring filmmakers and theatre artists to showcase their stories and talent.”
Before working as an independent maker Mayank used to work on television in many popular shows as Assistant Director. He says,”After completing my film making course from a renowned film institute in Mumbai I started my journey with Balaji as an Assistant Director in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. As I was always passionate about traveling and wanted to explore different countries and cultures I joined a cruise ship as a videographer. When i came back I realised I should continued my dream in the film industry so I joined Zee TV as a DOP. This opportunity fell in my lap by sheer luck and hard-work and i gave it my 200 percent.”
Mayank also shares that Billu’s Flight has won many awards in India and USA and slowly with time and his efforts everything fell in place and the result is there now for everyone to see. “ I couldn’t have asked for a better platform than FNP media.”
Speaking about his inspiration in film making Mayank says,”I look upto a lot of filmmakers from our Indian cinema i don’t have one particular person that i draw inspiration from however I have always been in awe of Anuraag Kashyap and his body of work. His natural flair towards movie direction has inspired me and my work and hopefully I can showcase some more work in the near future for the audience and my well-wishers to see.”
After Billu’s Flight Mayank have produced and directed international Tv shows like Those Who Made It & Nazranaa Diaries (Season 1,2 & 3) and he also has a documentary lined up in the pipeline called the Mt. Everest Fashion Runway under his own production house The Ridge Films which he has directed and produced and has also won Guinness World record for it.
