Diksha Negi, just 13 years old and an ardent SRK fan has scripted and co directed the highly appreciated film ‘MH 26/11-Mumbai under attack !, thus becoming the youngest film maker in the country to do so.
Diksha Negi was a part of the 20 school children, under the guidance of Ms. Grace Pinto, MD, Ryan International School, who underwent through a rigorous training session on various facets of film making.
Diksha, along with other kids, right from scripting the story on how the Mumbai terror attack affects the friendship between two friends, to their unifying message of Oneness & love, irrespective of caste , creed & religion (Perhaps some of our divisive politicians can learn a lesson or two from the kids).
The Kids even auditioned actors for the right characters, dialogues, edited the rushes and did the complete post production work of MH 26/11
Hema Malini was the guest of honour for the premiere of the film, attended by Esha Khoppikar, Rituparna Sengupta, Johnny Lever and many from the television fraternity and personalities from other walks of life.
They all praised the efforts of the talented kids and expressed surprise that they have seen such a professional job. Infact they even volunteered to act in their next film, to be directed by the Ryan School children.
Ms. Grace Pinto, the managing director of Ryan foundation conceptualized the docu-drama when the school children would often come up to the teachers after watching the images and asked why terrorist killed innocent people and the mindset behind all divisions and violence. That is when Mrs. Pinto and the teachers realized how the terror attack affected the innocent minds and decided to make the docu-drama under the Children against Violence project.
Children against Violence is a project that raises the voices and concern of the young minds against the terror that we see in the 21st century. Recent terror attacks in Mumbai shook the minds and hearts of millions across the world. The Ryan foundation strongly believes in the overall development of children, and this was one of their initiatives to make children creative & responsible citizens of India.
The Ryan foundation has received a lot of appreciation for the film and offers to take the film to various festivals across the world.
They have also planned to take the film across schools in various cities in India, besides showing it to the education board.
They hope that the world will take notice of the work done by these talented kids and showcase the message across of how violence and divisions in our society affects children.
As for the young Diksha Negi, she would rather become a script writer, fleshing out meaningful cinema, rather than meaningless commercial pot boilers. Well at least the future seems bright for Bollywood.
