Hemani Chawla is on cloud nine after the shoot of her short film Bahar Aa Chaman. The film, directed by Aniket Dabas, also stars Amole Gupte and Namashi Chakraborty, and was a hit in the festival circuit. The film was selected at BISFF, an Oscar Academy accredited festival
Talking about what prompted her to come on board, she says, “The title itself was so interesting and exciting that when I heard it, I instantly understood this is an important film made on a sensitive subject. Most importantly, it has Amole Gupte Sir and Namashi Chakraborty in it, that’s the biggest draw. No sensible actor will deny this project.”
The film has been produced by Namashi, Sumukha Entertainment and Shrikant Wattamwar, in association with Namashi’s new production house MYRND Movies. The experience of working with Amole and Namashi was brilliant, says the actress, adding, “When I read the script, I was nervous in the beginning. Amole Sir has such an incredible body of work, plus being such a senior, and it was all very overwhelming for me. But he made me and everyone else feel so comfortable. The entire shoot went off smoothly. As far as Namashi goes, I have known him for years now, he is like my family. He is always funny and goofy with everyone but this character required a certain maturity. He pulled it off in such a beautiful manner that I was blown away. After the shoot was wrapped up, I messaged him for the next three days straight, saying how brilliant and how natural of an actor he is. The three of us had such beautiful chemistry, I was nervous in the first shot, but then eventually I was at ease while we were progressing.”
Of course, spending time on the set was fun, says Hemani, adding, “Well, Amole Sir is a big Vada Pav lover, he has tasted Vada pavs from all the best outlets in Mumbai, he got them ordered from a very famous place in Borivali where were shooting.”
Meanwhile, she adds that people are really taking to the short film format now. “Times have changed drastically, post lockdown with OTT and reels coming in. People’s attention span has changed so much that they need instant entertainment and engagement from the content they are seeing. Short films are a great example that you can entertain people within a few minutes and also keep your point across to them as a storyteller. Earlier the demand was less, so people barely used to release their short films, now from established OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Amazon Mini, Sony Liv and established YouTube channels, everybody wants to upload Short films on their channels because there is a massive demand in this bracket. So yes, this is a fantastic medium for actors and creators both,” she says.
