''Chaitra'' is a short film by Kranti Kanade based on author

G.A. Kulkarni G. A. Kulkarni (Gurunath Abaji Kulkarni), or known simply as "GA" (10 July 1923 – 11 December 1987; Marathi: जी. ए. कुलकर्णी, "जीए"), was a legendary Sahitya Akademi Award winner Marathi writer of short stories. GA ...

's story of the same name. Kranti selected this story for his thesis short film towards completion of his degree in Direction from

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...

. The film went on to win three

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

in 2002.

Plot

The story of a proud woman, her poetic vindication of unfair social insult, and her inevitable sad destiny. A very culture-specific film dipped in a local festival of rural women.

Cast

* Sonali Kulkarni as Mother * Abhishek Bhave as Madhu * Lalan Sarang as Naik Kaku * Vandana Vakhnis as Naik baai * Dhiresh Joshi as Father * Bhakti Pathare as Rakhma * Uttara Kulkarni as Shanta * Shripad Amte as Mama

Production

The film was shot in Alandi village near Pune and the post-production done at FTII. Being a student film, director did not have enough budget but Sonali Kulkarni and Lalan Sarang agreed to do the film without remuneration. Music director

Bhaskar Chandavarkar Bhaskar Chandavarkar (16 March 1936 – 26 July 2009) was an Indian sitar player, academic and film and theatre composer who worked with well-known directors of Indian cinema like Mrinal Sen, Girish Karnad, Aparna Sen, K. G. George and Amol P ...

not only composed music for the film without taking any remuneration but he also paid for the musicians himself. Cinematographer Mahesh Muthuswami contributed an amount towards the production and so did the sound designer Subir Das.

Awards and recognition

Chaitra won three

in 2002. * National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film * National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Music Direction (

) *

National Film Award – Special Mention (non-feature film) The National Film Award – Special Mention (Non-Feature Film) is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one ...

( Sonali Kulkarni) At the Mumbai International Film Festival 2002 it won National Critics’ Award and Best Short - Silver. That year, it was India's official entry to the Student Academy Awards. The film was also included in a DVD titled "Master Strokes", a compilation of works of twenty renowned FTII students.

References

{{Reflist Indian short films 2000s Marathi-language films 2002 films 2002 short films