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Director Mehran Amrohi, talks with Subhash K Jha about his brilliant film on lost childhood Chidiya.

What are your feelings as Chidiya has finally been released after a ten-year wait?

Honestly, Sir, I’m very emotional. I may be a writer, but I don’t think I have the words to express it. This is my first film, and I shot it nearly 10 years ago. The fact that it’s finally releasing means a lot to me. At the same time, I’m also nervous — just like a student before an exam. Your steps feel unsure, your words feel jumbled… but somewhere inside, there’s hope.

Child labour is a sensitive subject. How did you handle it in your film?

Chidiya isn’t about just one issue. It’s a story about ordinary lives, the kind many people live every day, especially in financially weaker sections. Yes, child labour exists...

It is what is known as a dry week at the movies. No big guns drawing their weapons from their armoury this week except for Karate Kid which gives off faint nostalgic vibes. This beloved Franchise comes back after 15 years , and is that reason to rejoice?

Hardly, say trade experts.

The generations that grew up watching the Karate Kid mov(i)es has rapidly moved on .Adding Jackie Chan to the martial arts-recipe hardly helps enhance the value of the menu. Oh, the Hindi version has Ajay Devgan and his son doing the dubbing for the mentor and pupil. It was sad to see the Devgan kid giving an interview along with his father at an age when he should be concentrating on his studies and games.

Chidiya , coincidentally, is about children being forced to grow up . It is director Mehran Amrohi’s first film and what an ordeal he...

Writer-Director Mehran Amrohi, who has struggled for ten years to finally get his directorial debut into movie theatres, deserves a standing ovation for his minimalist masterpiece.

Chidiya is a gem of a film, an instant classic, if you will. It conveys what the director so succinctly describes as “the joy in scarcity” with such an austere stare at neo-realism, I immediately want to put him up there with the masters of neo-realism, Vittorio de Sica and Satyajit Ray.

The theme of “joy in scarcity” characterized de Sica’s Bicycle Thieves as much as Ray’s Pather Panchali. Echoes of past greatness do not colour the contemporary texture and the lucidly lensed chawl life of Amrohi’s simple yet strong supple saga of the survival of the frailest section of our society.

Amrohi lets his two young protagonists, Shanu and his kid brother Bua, played with wondrous spontaneity by Svar Kamble...

Debutant director Mehran Amrohi’s Chidiya which finally gets an all-India release May 30 after travelling to several national and international festival, is a rare film about the mind of children that doesn’t talk down to them.

Usually, we either have films with children as protagonists that are patronizing in tone: the cinematic equivalent of lisp-talking to children and pinching their cheeks.

Or we have children in our films who behave as if they have been cloned from an app: bratty, all-knowing eye-rollers.

Chidiya does none of this. Its innocence is daunting. Amrohi inhabits the child’s psyche unconditionally. There is no attempt to prod the plot into pointed productivity or manipulate the impressionable minds. The two child actors, Svar Kamble and Ayush Pathak, don’t behave like actors. Neither does the exquisite adult cast.

It has taken Amrohi a while to get here.

Shabana Azmi, who resolutely champions the cause of cinema for children,...

Filmistaan, Airlift, Jolly Llb 2 have done wonders at the box office. The one common factor about all three films was actor “Inaamulhaq” playing diverse characters and amusing the audience with his power packed performances; playing a Pakistani in Filmistaan, an Iraqi in Airlift and recently playing a Kashmiri in Jolly Llb 2. After entertaining the audiences in critically acclaimed and box office hit films, Inaamulhaq is all set with his next with Kapil Sharma in Firangi. As always, Inaamulhaq will be seen in an altogether new look playing a significant role with lot of scope to showcase his untapped talent.

Inaamulhaq who was the creative consultant on Comedy Circus while Kapil Sharma was one of the leading contestants on the show is all excited to share the screen space with his old colleague. Talking about the film Inaamulhaq says, “Firangi is a light-hearted comedy set in the backdrop of...

Inaamulhaq who played a Pakistani in National Award winning Filmistaan will now be seen playing an Iraqi in Akshay Kumar starrer Airlift. Inaamulhaq plays a very essential role of an Iraqi ‘Major Kahalf Bin Zayd’ who is the main antagonist of the evacuation that the film is based on.

The actor won a lot of accolades for his role in Filmistaan from winning five Awards including Screen Awards, Aiba, Sica and a nomination at Iifa. Looks like the wait of his fans is finally over and the actor who was listed in the top 10 stand-out actors of 2014 will again be proved to be the star attraction of 2016.

Inaamulhaq who is coming back with a bang after almost a year says, “It is very difficult for an actor to wait for one and half year for his next release. But if the wait has to finish at Airlift then it becomes a different ball game altogether.