Director-actor Hemwant Tiwari has been strolling round Mumbai streets within the apparel of a fox to advertise his upcoming movie titled Lomad. He has additionally supplied a reward to anybody who could discover even a single minimize in his movie which releases in theatres on August 4. In an unique interview with Hindustan Times, Hemwant talks about his new movie, the distinctive promotion technique, and extra. (Also learn: Guddi Maruti recollects Mamta Kulkarni gave her chilly therapy on set)
Elaborating on his promotions, Hemwant mentioned, “I stand at any random place – dressed in my fox costume – and my board says “discover a minimize in my movie and get double the worth of your ticket’. Lomad is a 97-minute-long, single-take movie. That means the digital camera did not cease, nor did the actors, for your entire working time of the movie. You can expertise it in theatres, for the primary time when the movie releases in PVR cinemas on August 4.”
Promoting film on the streets
Talking about the problems he has faced in his promotions, “The main hurdle was the funds for promotions. I did not have any assets and had no clue what to do. Then, I dreamt of myself carrying a fox costume. The subsequent day, I purchased the material, acquired it stitched, and I used to be all set to launch my promotions. I hit the highway speaking to folks. It has been a month now I’m on the roads, seashores, cafes, trains, and so forth in Mumbai.”
Promotions and BMC, Mumbai Police
Recalling how the local municipal body interrupted his antics, Hemwant said, “I used to be rudely taken away from the footpath by BMC and, in one other incident, I used to be put within the police van and was made to take a seat within the police station. The weirdest (incident) was when BMC interfered. One night, I stood on a footpath with my board, and subsequent to me was a gol-gappa (avenue meals) vendor. A BMC official got here, took my footage, after which manhandled my board. He even behaved in an unruly method.”
He added, “I used to be put of their van. I don’t know why, they simply stored saying ‘it isn’t allowed’. Another day, I stood close to Marine Drive within the night when a police van got here saying ‘Baahar aao, baahar aao (Step out)’. I used to be once more taken away within the police van and was made to take a seat within the police station.
They additionally advised me ‘not allowed’. It all occurred in locations the place tea-sellers, massagewalas, and different such distributors take frequent rounds. I used to be thrown out of a mall and metro as effectively. I will not cease. Now I do not exit with the board anymore. Instead, I’ve printed playing cards and I am going out in public and provides away playing cards and inform my revered viewers in regards to the movie.”
Hemwant also said, “It’s been an immense battle to carry Lomad to the cinemas. Everyone for all these years requested me to launch the movie and even some opinions urged ‘Please, launch the movie and let the world see what you and your group have created’. In order to launch the movie, I wanted cash. So I did all types of jobs for the cash we wanted – from working as a driver to instructing yoga, I did all of it.”
Lomad: Awards and film festivals
The film’s first trailer was also a single-take shot. The film has travelled to various film festivals across the globe and already won 20 awards at various film festivals. These include the Best Experimental Film prize at Santa Monica Film Festival, the Best Male Actor award at Accolade Global Film Competition, and the Best Noir Film award at the Los Angeles Film Awards in 2o20. Lomad also won three awards at Vancouver Independent Film Festival in 2021 – the best actor, best first-time Filmmaker, and Best International feature film awards.
Hemwant also features in the upcoming film Lomad. Prior to Lomad, he was seen in the 2016 international TV series, Medinah which also stars Eric Roberts and Natasha Henstridge. Hemwant’s first outing, Zindagi Bahut Khoobsurat, was screened at the Court Metrage under the short film corner of the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.
Single-take films
It was legendary Hollywood filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock who first attempted to make a single-shot movie and some of the earliest experiments include Young and Innocent and Notorious. It was only in 1948 that he achieved what he started out to do. His film Rope was made with 10-minute-long single-takes as the 35-mm film cameras (used at the time for filmmaking) couldn’t shoot any longer takes.
In India, experiments have been on for a long time and a few films including the 2013 Bengali movie Rati Chakravyuh and the 2014 Tamil film Agadam were single-shot films. Both these were colour films while Lomad is black-and-white. The film also features Auroshikha Dey, Parimal Aloke, and Tirrtha Murbaadkar apart from Hemwant.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com