Finally, the dates for the Tiger Paw Sports Film Festival
dawned.
The screening already built up up a bit of a buzz within the festival due to the presence of Aasif Karim, who is the main protagonist of my documentary.
Then my long-lost school friends turned up, including two colonels from the Indian Army. So we were kind of getting set for the screening.
I drove to Delhi, found the venue easily, thought it was a good sign.
The screening began with a near full house, and the audience sat quietly, very occasional laughs and twitters(as in mini-laughs not internet service). I paced outside the auditorium for the entire two hours, much too nervous to sit with the audience.
When the two Colonels walked out, I thought this was it-more would follow. But they had to reach an official function and apologised for not being able to stay.
Then I went into the auditorium and saw how much of a hold the documentary had on the audience. It felt good to move people with your creation.
Finally the documentary ended, big rounds of applause followed.
A panel discussion followed, moderated by TV Personality-Arup Mitra, featuring Aasif Karim, Saba Karim (former India player and current selector), and myself. I clarified on my intention in doing the documentary, the three generational time-span and details of work.
Best comment for both Aasif and myself was when we were asked why such documentaries were not made in India. And here we thought were the rustics from Nairobi coming to the India Shining, land of great cricket and a greater passion for cricket. It sort of made our day.
Luckily the panel discussion ended before the AC on the stage could turn us into ice-cream!
Getting reactions, doing a bit of press interviews made us realise that we had actually done something. Showing a documentary about cricket, in India, with other Indian documentaries as the benchmark, to stand out meant a lot.
The screening already built up up a bit of a buzz within the festival due to the presence of Aasif Karim, who is the main protagonist of my documentary.
Then my long-lost school friends turned up, including two colonels from the Indian Army. So we were kind of getting set for the screening.
I drove to Delhi, found the venue easily, thought it was a good sign.
The screening began with a near full house, and the audience sat quietly, very occasional laughs and twitters(as in mini-laughs not internet service). I paced outside the auditorium for the entire two hours, much too nervous to sit with the audience.
When the two Colonels walked out, I thought this was it-more would follow. But they had to reach an official function and apologised for not being able to stay.
Then I went into the auditorium and saw how much of a hold the documentary had on the audience. It felt good to move people with your creation.
Finally the documentary ended, big rounds of applause followed.
A panel discussion followed, moderated by TV Personality-Arup Mitra, featuring Aasif Karim, Saba Karim (former India player and current selector), and myself. I clarified on my intention in doing the documentary, the three generational time-span and details of work.
Best comment for both Aasif and myself was when we were asked why such documentaries were not made in India. And here we thought were the rustics from Nairobi coming to the India Shining, land of great cricket and a greater passion for cricket. It sort of made our day.
Luckily the panel discussion ended before the AC on the stage could turn us into ice-cream!
Getting reactions, doing a bit of press interviews made us realise that we had actually done something. Showing a documentary about cricket, in India, with other Indian documentaries as the benchmark, to stand out meant a lot.
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