THE CHOSEN ONE is a short feature (1 hour) that will be aired on STAR One in India (dont know about overseas yet).

Air Date : 4th Feb 2005
Time Slot : Prime Time (6:30pm maybe 8:00pm will post exact time soon)

Anyone in the US with access to DirecTV's HindiDirect programming, please contact me via PM and I will appreciate your taping the same for me.

Thanks a bunch for reading.

Its a 1 hour short feature, shot on 16mm film. It has a crew who are almost entirely FTII grads. The director is Vinil Mathew, who directed the MetLife ad called 'The Guru', viewers here in the US maybe aware of which. Some of the main crew members are known very closely to me and I am associated with this project in a small way. I would appreciate comments about the movie, its treatment, story and general feedback on it.

I have not seen the movie yet as I await a copy in electronic media format once everything is done. The promos have begun airing.

Below is its schedule for the North American region

Date Time Program title Dura.

05/02/2005 19:30:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

05/02/2005 22:30:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

07/02/2005 14:00:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

09/02/2005 13:00:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

10/02/2005 09:00:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

10/02/2005 00:30:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

11/02/2005 03:30:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00


http://www.startv.com/eng/op_ch_schedule.cfm?searchword=The+Chosen+One&schannel_id=138&channel_id=138&regionid=25&langid=1&SDATE=05%2F02%2F2005&selectdate=05%2F02%2F2005

Below is the schedule for the Indian Subcontinent

Date Time Program title Dura.

04/02/2005 23:00:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

05/02/2005 20:30:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

06/02/2005 03:00:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

06/02/2005 15:30:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

08/02/2005 11:00:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

10/02/2005 03:30:00 The Chosen One 01:30:00

http://www.startv.com/eng/op_ch_schedule.cfm?searchword=The+Chosen+One&schannel_id=134&channel_id=134&regionid=5&langid=1&SDATE=04%2F02%2F2005&selectdate=04%2F02%2F2005[/url]

Is there a website with more info on background/story to this short feature? Does anyone know if it might be aired in UK anytime?

Ali

Unfortunately there is no website (the film was commissioned by STAR One and they dont do one I am afraid). Also STAR One does not beam in the UK only STAR Plus and STAR News I believe.

The Story & Screen Writer/Producer of the movie Harshavardhan Kulkarni is trying to get some stuff written up in the media about the effort. Will post links as soon as they are out.

I am interested to know more about it. Unfortunately I don’t have DirectTV network - is there any other way to access their work ?

Thanks

As of now, no. Maybe a DVD will get made. The producers intend sending it to Film Festivals, but as of now that's all in the works, nothing concrete. The budgets associated are so small, everything seems a luxury. Ah to have the budgetary and marketing clout of a big company!

A brief synopsis may soon be posted here. Stay tuned all.

Maybe once all the film festivals runs are over the makers can consider distributing the movie freely over the internet. I know some young film makers have tried this to get more exposure and feedback from viewers. It can only raise their profile by getting as much people to view it as possible.

Ali

That's a possibility. I am trying to organise some space for them on the internet so that when they contact film festival organisers, they can point them to a website. It will all depend on how well the movie is received by viewing audiences. The makers have made it with a lot of conviction. They believe in their story(I do too) and hope it connects with their audience. I am interested particularly in the Zulmi reaction because I know this is a fairly intelligent audience and such audiences will be the target for future projects of the producers.

Look forward to seeing it one day, I always got time to see new stuff from new people. If you need help with hosting or web space let me know, got loads of disk space and bandwidth on zulm that never gets used!

Ali

SYNOPSIS

THE CHOSEN ONE is the story of the child within all of us. How many times have we not said a silent prayer in our heads for things to go our way, as they seemingly careen out of control? Andre Mascerenhas is a young 13-year old dealing with many of the growing up pangs young adolescents do. He is part of an average family with middle class aspirations. His father Raya feels he leads a life on ‘rent’ where even his personal time cannot be called his own and wants to ‘re-settle’ in his native Mangalore. His mother Rose, a Mumbai native and her son Andre are the ones that are vehemently opposed to this. Rose has a career in advertising she cannot otherwise pursue in Mangalore and Andre because he is a Mumbai boy, does not know any better! Andre’s sister Rachel is neutral to the whole thing.

Andre is in the habit of saying a little prayer to the Almighty whenever he is in a bind. Each time Raya mentions relocation, Andre begs God to step in and bat for him. Ofcourse these little askings continue at school and life in general as well. Andre’s convinced that God is all seeing, all observing and all pervading and thus knows whose prayers to answer. Andre strives hard to be God’s chosen one, by trying to do good deeds and stay in the Big Man’s good books! And then one day his adolescent hormones find a mark at Art Class. Mita Parihar has all the qualities that can send a young teenager’s pulse racing. When his attentions don’t seem to be reciprocated and instead are directed towards another classmate, Andre turns a major corner in life.

The rest of the story deals with the tribulations young Andre goes through in realising the true meaning of being THE CHOSEN ONE and his subsequent growing up process. Andre has a life altering experience, where he finds out the difference between the hold of superstition and the power of faith.


Commissioned By : STAR TV for telecast on STAR One
Telecast Date : 4th Feb, 2005 (5th Feb, 2005 in North America on DirecTV)
Story/Screenplay/Production : Harshavardhan Kulkarni (Tailormade Films)
Direction : Vinil Mathew
Running Time : 71 minutes

Here's a link to the programme synopsis on STAR One's website :

http://starone.indya.com/serials/studioone/index.html

THE CHOSEN ONE appears on the Top 5 list of things to do today on
Mid-Day....readon

http://ww1.mid-day.com/hitlist/2005/february/102911.htm

Anyone seen this yet ? comments ?

I will see it this weekend (provided the DVD arrives in time).....but I have a vested interest so my opinion will be null and void...i will work on getting the movie out there in cyberspace so that interested people can download it and take a look....i will have to confer with the producers and the rights holders of the movie to be able to do that....so standby for updates....i was hoping people like Sanjay would have caught it in India, but looks like he hasn't

I am just curious to see what kind of films come out of Film Institute students. Keep us posted please...., Thanks.