''Prarambha'' (

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

: Beginning) is a 2007

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Santosh Sivan Santosh Sivan (born 8 February 1964) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and has to date co ...

and funded by

Bill Gates foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

. The film stars

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed a ...

, Skandha and

B. Saroja Devi Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films in over six decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" (Saraswathi of ac ...

in the lead roles. The movie premiered at

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in 2007. The movie screened for the first time in India on 1 December 2007 at

38th International Film Festival of India The 38th International Film Festival of India was held from November 23 - December 3 2007 in Goa. Hungarian cinema was the "Country Focus" in this edition. Filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta was the chief guest for this edition. Winners * Golden Peac ...

Overview

The film was a part of

Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural sphe ...

's noble project ''AIDS Jaago'' (AIDS Awake), a series of four short films, ''Prarambha'' (directed by

, ''Migration'' (directed by

), ''

Positive Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posit ...

'' (directed by

Farhan Akhtar Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, playback singer, producer, and television host who works in Hindi films. Born in Mumbai to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he grew up under the influen ...

) and '' Blood Brothers'' (directed by

Vishal Bhardwaj Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of seven National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Bha ...

) in a joint initiative of

's Mirabai Films, voluntary organisations Avahan and

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

with a view of generating awareness about

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. The film was made for

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

’s AIDS foundation. The film was entirely shot on location in and around

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

. The film, directed by Santosh Sivan, is about a truck driver (

) 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 also being

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...

. Prabhu Deva, the male

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

, plays the role of a truck driver in the film.

Plot

The story of the film begins when Puttaswamy (

), a truck driver, arrives at his place in

. Puttaswamy discovers a little boy Kittu (Skandha) in the back of his truck. Kittu is on a journey to find his mother (

Anu Prabhakar Anu Prabhakar, also known by her married name Anu Prabhakar Mukherjee, is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in Kannada films and a few Tamil films. Early life Anu was born in Bangalore to M. V. Prabhakar, an employee with Bharat He ...

), who left him upon discovering that she was HIV positive. The next scene involves a call-girl (played by

Ramya Ramya (Sanskrit: रम्य) is a Sanskrit female given name, which means "pleasant" and "delightful". Notable people * Ramya (born 1982), Indian actress and politician * Ramya Barna (born 1986), Indian actress * Ramya Krishnan (born 1970), ...

) 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 Sahaya Sheelan Shadrach (born 24 March 1966) known by his screen name Sadhu Kokila, is an Indian musician, actor, comedian, film director and producer, and an occasional screenwriter and lyricist who works in Kannada cinema. He began his care ...

), 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 Puttaswamy is his dad, so Puttaswamy agrees to help the boy find his home. Later, he takes the boy to his home. He discovers that the lady 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 dismissed from his 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 (

) tells 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 organize 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.

Cast

- Puttaswamy Gowda (Truck Driver) *

- School Principal * Skandha - Kittu * Jayanthi - Grandmother *

- Mother *

- Sex Worker *

- Gunda *

Jai Jagadish Jai Jagadish (born 29 June 1954) is an Indian actor, director and producer in the Kannada film industry. Starting his career as an actor in '' Phalitamsha'' (1976), he went on to feature in over 300 films as an actor. In 1998, he turned producer ...

- Policeman *

Chitra Shenoy Chitra Shenoy is an Indian actress and producer in South Indian movies and television series. She has acted in more than 600 films in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, and Hindi. She is known as the 'young mother' in the Kannada film ind ...

- Lady at House * Avni Jairam - Little Girl * Lata - Patient * Nagaratna - Parent * Pandu - Lawyer * Savitha - Nurse * N. G. Usha - Teacher

References

External links

* * {{Official website, http://www.aidsjaago.com/, Aids Jaago official website
Watch Prarambha online
at

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2000s Kannada-language films 2007 films Indian short films HIV/AIDS in Indian films