Short-Film ‘Vaidya’ Shooting Wraps. Official Poster Revealed.
‘Vaidya’, a new short film that is in the works, recently wrapped up shooting in Goa and is currently in the post-production phase at Baas Films Studio in Mumbai. The film narrates the story of ‘Kabir’, a regular corporate man, and his journey to a beach town where he meets a mysterious boy – ‘Vaidya’. The poster of the film was recently revealed and simply shows the two characters seated by the beach, leaving much to the imagination of viewers.
The film features Ronit Agrawal who leads the cast as ‘Vaidya’. Ronit has previously appeared in several short films such as ‘The SMS’, ‘Last Drag’, and ‘A Meditation Over the Loneliness of Mr. X’, and will also be featured in the upcoming film ‘Titliyaan’.
He will be starring in ‘Vaidya’ alongside Puneet Kumar Mishra – an alumnus of the National School of Drama who has worked with seasoned theater personalities of the country and is now gaining recognition with ’Char Pandrah’ on Hotstar and ‘NCR: Chapter One’ on MX player. He will be playing the role of ‘Kabir’.
Directed by Sumit Pawar, an LGBTQ activist, and award-winning director of the film ‘Khwaaish’ and the documentary ‘Just Another Love Story’ – ‘Vaidya’ was shot entirely on the beaches of Goa with most of the crew being brought in from Mumbai. The film was Written, and Produced by Harsh Agarwal, who also supported Pawar as the co-director of the film.
The film crew also includes Shivam Borkar and Varun Katare as the cinematographers; award-winning Film editor and director Rahul Tiwari as the editor; and Iqbal Darbar as the music composer for the film.
Speaking on the film, director Sumit Pawar said,“When Harsh pitched the idea of Vaidya to me, I was instantly sold. The concept was fresh, unique, and the screenplay was tight. We were lucky to have assembled a great crew eventually and have a fun-filled shoot in Goa. Although we did face some difficulties initially in terms of the rains and clouds on day 1; fortunately, we were met with clear skies on subsequent days to wrap up. I look forward to sharing this work of art with viewers across the country”.
The short film is being presented by ‘The Qknit’ with Razorpod, Keywordsfly & Katha Studio on board as partners and is expected to be released in the summer of 2021.
“We are in talks with various OTT platforms at the moment and are also looking at various film festivals to decide upon the best medium to launch the film effectively. We are hoping for a global premiere that will leave strike audiences across” said Harsh, speaking on the launch plans of the film.
Speaking on the theme of the film, Harsh also said that they don’t necessarily plan on tagging it as a queer film.“It is simply about two people falling for each other. The story would have perhaps, remained the same even if one of the lead characters was of the opposite sex” he says.
Harsh further stated – “We don’t intend on standing out with this story. It is something that came along naturally, and we kept adding the right folks to the equation to make it happen. Funnily, I had written another screenplay prior to this to which we didn’t get any interest in casting and hence was shelved. Like us humans, stories also come with their own destiny, and Vaidya’s destiny was to reach people.”
Agarwal is also working on another creative project titled ‘Chaar Kahaniyaan’. The project is a series of 4 stories recorded as spoken words in an empty auditorium that are based on themes entwining society and sexuality. The cinematography for the same is done by Director of Photography – Shivesh Mishra, with the sound being handled by Sajal.
The project is currently in the works and will be launching very soon.
