The filmmaker, the boy and the 'wardrobe': Why this student film about self-image is being devoured at int'l film festivals

The most obvious question that is bound to crop up in anyone's mind while watching the delightful short film Kapaat (meaning cupboard in Marathi) is, 'Why does this boy covet the cupboard so much?'. The boy we are talking about is a true blue Bollywood fan who dons goggles to up his style quotient and always keeps the top button of his shirt open. With absurd confidence, he innocently tricks a salesman into selling him a cupboard and all of this builds up to the heartbreaking finale. 

Janvi Madabusi, who wrote and directed the short film which has already seen the light of 12 national and international film festivals, is a big Bollywood fan herself. This 20-year-old is also a talker-turned-writer-turned-filmmaker and since Kapaat is the first-ever short film she has put out in the universe (apart from college projects), there is a bit of Janvi's soul hiding in the film. "As a child, I would be very shy to call people to my house because I was embarrassed by how it looked when compared to the friends' fancy houses with fancy furniture. But it was when we moved to a new place that I constantly would remember that one cupboard that I was particularly ashamed of and started to wonder about others whose self-image reflected in objects," says the student who is pursuing her Bachelor's in Mass Communication from Jai Hind College, Mumbai. And that's how she came to write this story in February 2021.

Janvi Madabusi and the team 

Manthan Kanekar, the actor who plays the protagonist, is already a prominent child star in Marathi serials and they undertook a two-day workshop before shooting the film to ensure he understands the tone of the character. "He is a sure-shot superstar and loves being on set," exclaims the Mumbaikar. Getting the rest of the cast in line was a process of another week. "It was through my house help's contacts that we sought out the rest of the characters. In fact, we shot the film in her neighbour's house. Everyone was very welcoming," shares Janvi who has been writing since the age of 12. She and her Director of Photography and Editor Bhagyesh Rajeshirke put their heads together to decide upon shots elaborately that they would shoot with the Sony Alpha 7S III. Special attention was also paid to what each character wore and the background music as well. "We wanted to make sure that every element of the movie conveys exactly what we want to say," she shares. 

Whether the cupboard the boy was craving for reflected his self-image and whether he was able to get his hands on it are questions you will have to find out answers for by watching the short film yourself. It was released on YouTube on December 18, 2021, by the way. But what is the reaction coming in from the various festivals it was played at, including the Nordic Youth Film Festival, Norway; UWpg Film Festival, Canada; International Photography and Short Movie Festival, Indonesia; Ahmedabad International Children Film Festival — where it won the Best Student Film — and many more? "We constantly tried to keep the script tight and luckily, viewers did understand all the layers we were trying to put across. And many people felt like watching it for a second time. That was one constant feedback we received," says the filmmaker about the short film which is a little over 14 minutes long. 

Janvi is already on to her next indie movie, Guddi Masi, which was shot in Varanasi and now, she has applied to many film festivals for it. She is writing a script for a feature-length that she hopes will see the light of day soon.