A 10 year old's encounter with sexuality

The sensuousness and passion associated with love has always been a very adult concept. But have you ever wondered what this passion will feel like, when awakened in a 10 year old?u00a0 In the Hindi film Khargosh, which will be screened for the first time in Mumbai, director Paresh Kamdar paints an innocent picture "about the awakening of a 10 year-old boy and his first encounter with his sexuality."u00a0 Bantu is a regular 10 year old who spends his time urging his teenage friend Avneesh to join him in flying kites. However, Avneesh prefers to wait in a bazaar, for hours sometimes, for a glimpse of the pretty Mrityu.



Soon, Bantu finds himself playing cupid between the two. But he soon tires of his candy reward and starts seeking something more. One glimpse of the two of them in the moment of passion has a profound effect on the young boy. The film, which was made in 2009, relies mostly on images and sounds to portray the intensity of the young boy's experience. "It has no solid story. The idea was to make the audiences experience the film and understand the film through visuals and not through words or events," says Kamdar. Khargosh is part of the NCPA Fresh Pix Series, which was started to create an audience for regional and Indie cinema outside of film festivals.

Khargosh was screened at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival, the 11th Osian Cinefan Film Festival in 2009 and at other festivals around the world where it received an overwhelming response. Kamdar who plans on releasing the film in India in September or October, hopes he can garner a similar response in Mumbai. "The independent cinema scene in India is a sad state of affairs. Europeans and Americans get to see more of our films than Indian audiences. People controlling the business of films are not interested in these films as they have invested a lot of money to support their kind of films," says Kamdar.

At: 6.30 pm, June 17, Little Theatre, NCPA, Nariman point.
Call: 66223737