In his second short film after Baarish Aur Chowmein (2018), actor Amit Sadh will be seen portraying the character of a photojournalist. Titled Ghuspaith – Beyond Borders, it is set against the border between India and Bangladesh. In a land ravaged by militancy and an urgent, devastating refugee crisis, the worth of human life becomes a question many struggles to answer, and writer-director Mihir K Lath will be exploring these themes in the short.
And now, it has been chosen to be screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. “As an actor, it is a great opportunity and honor to explore and make this short film, as Mihir looked well prepared and full of enthusiasm. The way he had done his prep and planned things, it looked like we are going to make something nice. Honestly, I am very fulfilled and happy that I made Ghuspaith with Mihir and now that it is coming out, we are going to Sundance Film Festival and show it to audiences,” Sadh shares.
Lath was attracted to tell this story in a quest to bring a humane understanding of a complicated, global issue of refugee crisis. And he chose to tell it from the prism of a photo-journalist named Manav (portrayed by Sadh). The short film salutes the spirit of renowned brave photojournalists like Danish Siddique, who put their life on the line to serve the people who went through this catastrophe.
Talking about casting Sadh in the lead, Lath says, “Amit and I were aligned from our very first meeting when I explained my vision to him, the kind of themes my movie was dealing with and the way I wanted to invigorate the viewer into this high tension human drama. Even before reading the script, he said yes to me. It is that decision of his that has allowed Ghuspaith to be made.”
Shedding light on what drew him to it, filmmaker Shakun Batra, who is presenting Ghuspaith under his banner Jouska Films, says, “Ghuspaith is a brave attempt to understand the pain and horror that must have filled the last moments of Danish Siddique. I think it takes immense courage to bear witness and Ghuspaith is an effort for all of us to understand the strength it takes to cross borders in pursuit of humanity. That is our intention with the film”.
Ask Sadh about what excited him to be a part of the short and he says, “When Mihir came with the story, I found that we are making the short film to honour the photographers journalists of the world, like Danish who was killed by the Talibanis in Afghanistan while reporting. I knew about Danish from before, and I think it is very courageous and brave of all people who report war and crime. It takes lot of guts to be in that kind of a scenario where bombs are blasting and bullets are being fired from all the directions.”
The principal photography of the short film took place in Maharashtra over four days with Sadh, along with actors Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Pamela Bhutoria forming the ensemble.
Ghuspaith – Beyond Borders is a Sane Insane Pictures production. It is produced by Girish Arora, Vikram Khakhar and Mihir Lath in association with Jouska films, and is co-produced by S Ramachandran. The music has been composed by Sanchit Balhara and Reed Garber is the director of photography.
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