'Railway Children' for Mumbai international film festival

‘Railway Children,’ a Kannada film by Tindrum Beats of Udupi, has been selected for screening at the Mumbai International Film Festival scheduled to be held from October 20 to 27.

The film has been directed by Prithvi Konanur and is the only film from Kannada competing in the India Gold Section. Out of the 170 entries, 11 have been short-listed for screening, including ‘Railway Children.’

The film is of docudrama genre and runs 115 minutes. It is based on research work ‘Rescuing Railway Children’ by Lalitha Iyer and Malcolm Harper on children who run away from home using trains.

Many children run away from thier houses using trains every year. The film explores the world through the eyes of Raju, a 12-year-old runaway boy. He steps out to an unknown and never-seen-before world on the railway platform. He is timid, insecure and unsure.

The boy falls into the hands of a gang involved in illegal platform businesses. Raju meets a gang member, Jollu, of the same age, a boy addicted to solution, who teaches Raju about the tricks and trades of living on a railway platform. Raju slowly gets used to the platform life and is emboldened in his approach towards life. Soon, Raju and Jollu start a competing business with the boss of the gang. But this dangerous move has its own perils and repercussions.

The film screening will be a part of ‘The New Medium,’ a new section that has been added in the film festival this year. This section will feature the best in innovative filmmaking from its inception to the contemporary moment.

Most of the cast in ‘Railway Children’ are non-actors. Manohara K, Syed Pervez, Yash Shetty, Divya M R, Karthik, Parimala and others are in the cast.