Actor Sanjay Mishra started shooting in this city of the Taj on Saturday for a short film by Shamika Tomar titled “The Grief“.
Produced and directed by Tomar, the film will present the struggles and frustrations of a carriage driver who ferries tourists between the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.
Talking about her project, Tomar told IANS: “It is much more challenging to power pack a message in a short 10-minute film. But my script is tight and I have done enough homework in selecting locales.
“The cameraman is from Spain. People fall in love with the Taj and the romantic story that goes with it, but little concern is felt for those ‘small men’ who do a whole lot of things to keep the tourism going. The tonga (carriage) driver epitomises those feelings of agony and disappointment in a drudgery-ridden life of an aam admi (common man).”
Tomar, who is doing her graduation at an American institution in cinematography, has produced many short films and has bagged two short Hollywood films within 15 months of her stay in the US. Her future plans are to make “quality” movies in India.
When she flew to Los Angeles, little did she know whether her decision to pursue her dream was the right thing to do or not.
Her parents were apprehensive about her career plans, but her determination yielded results and she got “Awaken” and “On the Verge”.
“‘Awaken‘ is the story of a young girl, who faces life-changing consequences of drunken driving by losing her best friend. The remorse and guilt leads her on the path of artistic epiphany and lends a new meaning to her life,” she said.
In both the films, former Miss India Shilpa Tripathi plays the central roles.
“‘On the Verge’ is about Marie, a girl who sneaks out of her house without her mother’s consent on a holiday with her boyfriend, who betrays her,” said Tomar.
