A group of young theatre enthusiasts from Abhinaya Taranga and director Shashank Soghal have come out with a short film ‘Bhootha Missing’, which is a humorous take on the flex menace. 

‘Bhootha Missing’ was created as part of a workshop held at the theatre school. It has gained much attention online. 

“The school called three filmmakers from different backgrounds and I was one of them. I was assigned a group of 10 boys and the workshop was meant to help them gain exposure into filmmaking. The team and I brainstormed for a week about what subject to work on. I helped train the students in the nuances of acting,” says director Shashank.

The story goes thus: a group of boys from the lower-economic section of the society aspire to be featured on a flex banner commemorating a local corporator’s birthday. This doesn’t happen because of various reasons. Parallelly, another set of boys, coming back after a party, see flex banners and want to remove them. The film showcases the contrast between the two sets of boys.  

Shashank has had his own experiences with flexes in the city, which made him want to work on the subject.

“I was travelling on a flyover on Banashankari one day and saw that a flex on a light pole was about to fall on my friend’s head. This incident stayed in my head. Also, flexes cause environmental pollution and distract drivers. I always want to work on subjects which have not been explored before,” he says. 

He adds, “It was ironical that these flexes, supposed to be illegal, were being installed in huge numbers every day. It was clear that policymakers and local corporators were the ones behind this.”

Shashank says he wanted to make a film which not only communicated a message but also entertained people.

“I didn’t want the film to look preachy. We wanted to make sure that the film leaves people laughing while also making them think. The film was filmed in July and in August the High Court passed an order asking the BBMP to remove all flexes and put a blanket ban. The film closes with this message,” he added. 

Why is the film called ‘Bhootha Missing’?

“The protagonist of the film is called ‘Bhootha’ and why he goes missing forms the crux of the story. We wanted an interesting title,” says Shashank.  

Shashank has worked on short films like ‘Mugdha Yuddha’, ‘Che’, ‘Chadmavesha’ and ‘Patinga’ earlier. However, he says that this experience was different.

“It is great to work with young talent,” he says.

‘Flexes exist across the state’

“Though the blanket ban on flexes in Bengaluru might have got rid of them here, flexes still exist across districts in Karnataka.”

- Shashank Soghal, filmmaker

Fun Facts

-The film was shot in two days.

-‘Bhootha Missing’ is 19 minutes long.

-The film has received 6,200 views online.