Short film directors make the big leap

Some of our most wellknown and accomplished filmmakers in the country have all started off at the same point making shorts So whether be it Sudhir Mishra or Vidhu Vinod Chopra feature length films seem to have been a natural progression for many directors No wonder that awardwinning short filmmakers like Ritesh Batra and Vibhu Puri are going the Bollywood way as well Amit Kumar Debut feature Monsoon Shootout Release date Unclear Notable shortie The Bypass Coproduced by Kashyap and Guneet Monga Amit Kumarrsquos project was one of the three Indian films to be screened at Cannes Film Festival two months ago According to trade insiders the film has already earned distributors and is expected to release before the end of this year Ashish Shukla Debut feature Prague Release September 6 Notable shortie Corneliani All set to clash at the box office with Shuddh Desi Romance starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra Ashish Shuklarsquos debut venture stars Chandan Roy Sanyal and Elena Kazan in the lead roles The film was supposed to release in July itself but got delayed due to some unavoidable circumstances Ritesh Batra Debut feature The Lunchbox Release September 20 Notable shortie Gareeb Nawazrsquos Taxi Also called Dabba the film was not only showcased at Cannes but also managed to earn a standing ovation along with rave reviews Starring Irrfan Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui the film shall compete with Phata Poster Nikla Hero and Ungli for screens Ravi Alok Debut feature Untitled Release 2014 Notable shortie Khuli Khidki A comic thriller and based on the short film of the same name the casting of this feature is in progress Itrsquos a story of an insurance agent who sells policies in a red light area The film will mark the production house involvedrsquos debut venture into mainstream cinema Shlok Sharma Debut feature Haramkhor Release Unclear Notable shortie Tubelight Ka Chand Sujata Set in a dry sun struck small village in Madhya Paresh Haraamkhor stars Nawazuddin and Shweta Tripathi in prominent roles It is a crisscross of emotions across gender and age loss of innocence and ultimately returning to it before the credit rolls Vibhu Puri Debut feature Bambai Fairy Tale Release Unclear Notable shortie Chabiwali Pocket Watch With Abhay Deol rumoured to be the protagonist in this period love story set in the city of dreams the project sounds interesting Whatrsquos more interesting is Abhay is said to not only star in the film but also produce the whole endeavour Vasan Bala Debut feature Peddlers Release Unclear Notable shortie Geek Out His debut film travelled all the way to Cannes along with other international film festivals last year but it is yet to hit the local theatre According to sources it might finally see the darkness of a cinema hall before the end of this year No comment Some short film makers are not at liberty to talk about their upcoming films thanks to confidentiality clauses signed with the production house Nonetheless they are thrilled about the prospect of creating their own movie Neeraj Ghaywan Debut feature Untitled Release 2014 Notable shortie Shor Hersquos one of the assistant directors of the upcoming Anurag Kashyap film Ugly And as of now hersquos working on his debut fulllength feature which is in its preproduction stage Anubhuti Kashyap Debut feature Untitled Release 2014 Notable shortie Moi Marjaani Filmmaker Anurag Kashyaprsquos sister is currently writing the script of her debut venture and she hopes to release her film in early 2014 The long and short of it ldquoInternationally everyone from Hitchcock to Lucas to Spielberg started out with shorts before moving to feature films Irsquom happy India too is realising the potential of short filmmakers Itrsquos a great trend and is only getting stronger with time I see more and more short filmmakers making features in the times to comerdquo Cyrus Dastur who runs a short film club across the country