Little Terrorist
| Little Terrorist | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Ashvin Kumar |
| Produced by | Ashvin Kumar, Dilip Singh Rathore, Sarah Tierney |
| Written by | Ashvin Kumar |
| Starring |
Zulfuqar Ali (Salim), Sushil Sharma, Megnaa Mehtta |
| Cinematography | Markus Hürsch |
|
Release date
|
2004 |
|
Running time
|
15 min |
| Language | Hindi/Urdu/bangla |
Little Terrorist is a 2004 Indian short film directed, written and produced by Ashvin Kumar. It was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film. Ashvin Kumar is the son of fashion designer Ritu Kumar, and made his debut with Road to Ladakh (2002), starring Irrfan Khan and Koel Purie.
The leading cast of the movie consisted of Zulfuqar Ali (Salim), Sushil Sharma and Megnaa Mehtta. None of them had ever acted in a movie before this and while Zulfuqar is a street child, Sushil Sharma is a clerk in the government service in Delhi and Megnaa was a 12th standard student at the time of shooting the movie.
The production of the film commenced in November 2003 and was completed in March 2004. The crew were selected by Alipur Films via Shooting People, the online filmmakers community and worked free of cost for the movie and even travelled to India at their own expense.
The movie was shot in the deserts of Rajasthan on a very tight budget. The crew faced various difficulties due to the multilingual production team, remote locations and the shoestring budget. These were further complicated when a tent with the reel burnt down. The crew were however able to salvage the reel from the tent. At another time, a herd of cows stampeded through the shooting location.
The movie revolves around Jamal (played by Salim), a 10-year-old Pakistani Muslim boy. While playing cricket near the Indo Pakistani border, the cricket ball is tossed over to the Indian side of the border separated by a fence.
Jamal crosses the fence to fetch the ball. He is however spotted by the Indian security forces. He hides in an Indian village where he is provided shelter by Bhola (Sushil Sharma), a devout Hindu Brahmin. Both Bhola and his niece, Rani (Megnaa Mehtta), are sceptical about allowing a Muslim boy in their home.
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