JOIN USA movie on forgotten child marathoner
Most people may not now recall the name of Budhia Singh. A few years ago, the little slum boy from Bhubaneswar had virtually taken the entire nation by storm with his achievements as a marathon runner. Now, the boy is in a government-run sports hostel in the city far away from limelight. He was enrolled there after his stormy separation from his coach and mentor, Biranchi Das, who is no more.
Nevertheless, Budhia may soon be grabbing the headlines again, thanks to Soumnedra Padhi, a young movie maker from Odisha who will release a film on the little marathoner titled “Duronto” which means without a stop.
“It is a film in Hindi with English subtitles. Currently, the movie is in post-production stage and it will be completed by June-end. It will be ready for release thereafter,” said the film maker, who worked with a software company in
Hyderabad after his studies. Later, he shifted his base to Mumbai to do a basic course in animation and film making.
The movie, Padhi’s maiden feature film venture, is being produced by Code Red Films, an established ad film production house in Mumbai where the film maker had begun his career as an assistant
director. Many documentary film makers, both from India and abroad have made short films on the wonder kid from Bhubaneswar. However, what encouraged Padhi to do a full-length feature film on Budhia was his incredible but equally controversial life.
“It is fascinating how just a five-year-old child could run 48 marathons and equally horrifying how could he be allowed to do so for such a long time without being questioned. I think probably no other event in recent times created so much drama, controversy and entertainment as Budhia’s marathons,” said the film maker.
The movie is based on the relationship between Budhia and a judo coach (Biranchi Das) who had rescued the little boy from a Bhubaneswar slum and discovered his talent and how they achieved incredible heights together.
Besides directing the film, Padhi has penned the script. But writing the script is not that easy. The shooting of “Duronto” began in October last year. However, prior to that Padhi and his team had spent a lot of time in Bhubaneswar meeting people who include Geeta Panda, the late Biranchi Das’ wife to do research for the script.
“Writing the script was definitely challenging as there is so much to choose from,” Padhi maintained. As the film maker was from Odisha, he could contact the right people. The film maker has managed to rope in Manoj Bajpai, a well-known face in Bollywood, to play the important role of Budhia’s mentor and coach Biranchi Das. “Manoj has been a great collaborator for us. He got excited when we narrated him the script. I am immensely thankful for his trust in our team,” Padhi said. The Bollywood star had devoted a considerable time during the entire pre-production stage.
The role of Budhia is being played by Mayur, a relatively new child actor. “We wanted a child who was new and agile as the film required a lot of running. Mayur fitted the bill perfectly. We were very lucky to have discovered him,” Padhi said.
The child artiste along with other children in the film had attended a series of workshops prior to the film shooting. Another important role in the movie -- that of Budhia’s mother Sukanti Singh -- is being played by Tillotama Shome, an award-winning actors with many good films to her credit. They include Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding and Qissa with seasoned Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan which won her the best actress title in the New Horizons Competition of the seventh Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
Other smaller roles in the movie are being played by a mixture of some non-actors as well as professional artistes from different places in the country.The film has been shot at different locations within Odisha and outside, including the temple town of Puri. Budhia had grabbed the limelight for the first time by running his maiden marathon from Puri to Bhubaneswar, a stretch of 60 km, at one go.
The shooting of the movie generated a lot of curiosity among the people at all the locations. It sometimes became un-manageable, particularly in Puri where people actually thought Budhia had started running again. “We had to stop the shooting at times and seek the help of the police because it was difficult to manage the crowd,” Padhi said.
Many biopics in the past had run into trouble before their release because of protests and objections from family members. But Duronto is unlikely to face such hurdles as the production team had already taken permissions from Gitanjali Panda (late coach Das’ wife) and Sukanti Singh (Budhia’s mother).“We had taken permission from both of them and were in constant touch with all others who were connected with Budhia before and during the shooting. We had also met Budhia but unfortunately he doesn’t remember most of the things now,” Padhi said.