This story is from November 17, 2017

A short film that shines the spotlight on child anxiety

A short film that shines the spotlight on child anxiety
When theatre artistes Devanand Mahakud and Rakhee Bose set out to make short films, their only intention was to tell good stories that could contribute positively to society. They have made two films already, Lapata — about the denial and rejection of rape survivors by their families — and Koshish — a short that explores marital relationships and how easily spouses give up on each other.
The duo is now ready with their third, Piu Ka Pen, an 18-minute short on child anxiety, which will be premiered at Lahe Lahe on November 18.
“We always wanted to do a film on children, but if you notice, most of the existing work revolves around child abuse, trafficking or labour — subjects that are being dealt with because there has been dialogue surrounding it. Child anxiety, on the other hand, is still often hushed up, with most parents in denial that their wards could be suffering from some form of depression, which may or may not result in them hurting themselves,” says Rakhee, who conceptualized the film.
In fact, when Rakhee and Devanand began putting the script together, they wondered what would drive a child to hurt his/her self and began researching on this and discussing with subject experts. During their conversations with parents, Rakhee says that they realized that parents believe that by providing their children with everything they could possibly want, in terms of material items, they were sorted and didn’t need anything extra. “There is no denying that there is a big chasm between parents and their children, with the former often in the dark about what the latter is up to. In this context, we thought it was imperative that we address this and get parents to understand the subtle symptoms that could tell them if their child is depressed or not. Initially, like most filmmakers, we were also looking at making a product that could be sent to film festivals. But around the time that we were editing Piu Ka Pen, we heard about the Blue Whale Challenge and thought that we needed to do something more. So we decided to create a campaign around the need of seeking help,” explains Rakhee.
As the first step, the film team will conduct a discussion after the screening with child mental health experts, Dr MV Ashok and Dr Yesheswini Kamaraju. “We are looking at connecting with city schools to screen the film and take the campaign further,” says Rakhee.
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