The youngest martyr of Indian independence, Baji Rout and his brave tale of how he refused to ferry Britishers across the Brahmani river and took a bullet for it has been told and retold many a time, but not quite like director Chinmay Das has done it through his movie on the boy wonder. Titled Baji The Immortal Boat Boy, Das decided to make this movie because, "Not many people outside Odisha know this story," says the 27-year-old. So in a quest to make Baji more known, he started writing the script of this movie about a year back. And recently, the first screening of the movie was at the Chief Minister's office, for which, CM Naveen Patnaik was in attendance. "He liked it a lot and exclaimed that the movie should be screened at every school," says the Puri-born filmmaker. Screenings at the Information & Public Relations Department followed as well.
Das, an alumnus of Centurion University, has been inclined towards filmmaking since the age of 13. "I learnt filmmaking by observing life as it is," says Das, who keenly follows the work of Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. He also would read up on the internet about short division, screenplay writing and more. Before Baji, he made other films and says that all of them have helped him improve his craft and he has learnt from all the mistakes he has made. Das, while planning the movie, soon realised that he was overshooting the budget. That's when Satyabrat Ratho, the Co-founder and Director at Prelude, came forward to invest in the movie.
Talking about the movie itself, without giving away too much, Das says that the films have two parallel stories running side by side in the screen time of 30 minutes. We ask him about finding the right child actor for the titular role of Baji and he says, "In fact, it is children who are capable of doing everything because they don't think too much about being judged, they just do what needs to be done," says Das. So with a crew of around 40 members, Das began shooting for his film in April this year. The original schedule was for 20 days but they aimed to finish it in 10 days. Days ahead were tough as they shot from 7 am to 2 am to wrap up the movie. The used two cameras, a Sony Alpha and a Canon 5D. But the team was forever inspired and they even shot through thunderstorms as well. "They gave it their all," says Das proudly. And now, he is aiming to ensure that more and more people get a chance to watch this movie about India's young braveheart.
Das's previous movies
- Chapter Four
This movie is based on Chapter Four of the Bhagavad Gita
- The Sixth Element
This movie talks about girl child discrimination and hails girls as the sixth element
- Love the River
Das made this movie for the Rally for Rivers campaign
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