| Prarambha | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Santosh Sivan |
| Written by | Santosh Sivan Mubina Rattonsey |
| Starring | Prabhu Deva Skandha B. Saroja Devi |
| Cinematography | Santosh Sivan |
| Edited by | Shakti Hasija |
Production company | Santosh Sivan Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 13 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Kannada |
Prarambha (translation: Beginning) is a 2007Indianshort film directed bySantosh Sivan and funded byBill Gates foundation.[1][2] The film starsPrabhu Deva, Skandha andB. Saroja Devi in the lead roles.
The movie premiered atToronto International Film Festival in 2007.[3]
The movie screened for the first time in India on 1 December 2007 at38th International Film Festival of India.[4]
The film was a part ofMira Nair's noble projectAIDS Jaago (AIDS Awake), a series of four short films,Prarambha (directed by Sivan,Migration (directed by Nair),Positive (directed byFarhan Akhtar) andBlood Brothers (directed byVishal Bhardwaj) in a joint initiative of Nair'sMirabai Films, voluntary organisations Avahan andBill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a view of creating awareness aboutHIV/AIDS.[2][5] The film was made forRichard Gere’s AIDS foundation.[6] The film was entirely shot on location in and aroundMysore.
The film, directed by Santosh Sivan, is about a truck driver (Prabhu Deva) who helps a boy (Skandha) in his quest for the person who gave him birth, and then helps get him reinstated in school, from which he had been dismissed for beingHIV-positive.
Puttaswamy (Prabhu Deva), a truck driver, arrives at his place inMysore. Puttaswamy discovers a little boy Kittu (Skandha) in the back of his truck. Kittu is on a journey to find his mother (Anu Prabhakar), who left him upon discovering that she was HIV positive.
The next scene involves acall-girl (played byRamya) trying to approach Puttaswamy, but he declines her invitation and says he has stopped indulging these days. Meanwhile, she gets troubled by a thug (Sadhu Kokila), a pimp who demands money from her. When Puttaswamy tries to stop the thug, he gets thrashed by him. Suddenly a cop (Jai Jagdeesh) arrives at the place and harasses Puttaswamy for the happenings. Kittu saves him by pretending to be Puttaswamy's son. Later, Puttaswamy takes the boy to his home and discovers that the woman in the house (Chitra Shenoy) is not Kittu's mother, and learns from her that Kittu's mother has been admitted to hospital. Immediately he rushes to the hospital. It turns out the mother is dying of AIDS and doesn't want to face her son.
Kittu refuses to go back home and school, because he was rusticated from school.
Puttaswamy takes the boy to the house of his grandmother (Jayanthi) and promises that he will take back the boy to his school, but he finds that the school will not admit him back because the boy has contracted HIV from his parents. The Headmistress (B. Saroja Devi) says some ignorant parents fear it may spread to their children, but she promises to the boy that she will try to take him back.
The school administrators organise an awareness program and educate parents about HIV. Puttaswamy campaigns among parents to change their perceptions, until the school takes the boy back. The story ends when Kittu gets re-admitted to the school.