Whether direction or acting, Sandalwood’s youngest director Kishan SS, says scripts that chart out reality and create a sort of awakening in people, which are less of mush and fluff, is what he’s looking for. “It must ultimately move you,” he says. This belief has been captured and portrayed in his latest release ‘Care of Footpath 2’, which did not rake in the expected collection at the box office but has managed to reach out to a lot of people.
Kishan has no regrets that the film hasn’t garnered the kind of response that commercial films do. “Everybody who has watched the movie has appreciated it and said that, although, it is not a commercially-oriented subject, it has done well to provoke the audience to think beyond what they see on the screen,” explains Kishan.
There’s a lot of background work that has done into the making of ‘Care of Footpath 2’. Kishan states the whole film took about three years to complete.
The first part of the film titled, ‘Care of Footpath’, was made by him when he was barely nine years and now he has explored the subject of children once again in the latest release.
“The film revolves around issues relating to juvenile justice and crimes against children. I met and interviewed a lot of children who are kept in remand homes and try to understand how they landed in the situation they’re in and how they struggle to assimilate into mainstream society,” narrates Kishan. He also met a couple of police officers from across the country to understand the real picture. Some of the children in the movie had to be trained to walk, talk and behave in a certain manner. “We had to put them through a series of workshops and all the dialogues and expressions had to be taught. It wasn’t easy but it has been worth the effort. The film has turned out to be as natural as it can get without any artificiality attached to it,” shares Kishan.
He states that he has woven the findings of his research into the movie. So, was he disappointed when the movie didn’t do as well as he expected it to? Kishan says, “You don’t always get what you expect to and the movie has done well in reaching out to a lot of people. I never get bogged down by these things. I always try to transform negative forces around me into positive energy,” he elaborates. So what sells? “That, I really can’t say. One should make a movie with all honesty and sincerity and it’s the people who decide what they like and what they don’t,” he adds. He further says that there are so many stories around that are waiting to be told. “I am moved by reality and anything natural instantly fuels ideas in me,”he adds. ‘Care of Footpath 2’ was released in Kannada and Hindi. It will soon be made into Telugu as well. Kishan has already readied his next script which, he says, will be a commercial venture. “I’ve always wanted to direct a masala film with lots of action and I’ve written one such script. I hope to start the work soon,” he says.