S’ – A film inspired by a ‘disappearing’ DVD..........

 There is a general belief that all Hindi films are inspired by a Hollywood DVD! Imagine a film that was inspired by a ‘disappearing’ DVD! This mysterious and mystical film has a single alphabet title and was completed in a record time of 9 days!!! ‘S’ was born as ace director Devang Dholakia persisted with his imagination and his entertainment entrepreneur friends Falguni and Sandeep Mehta decided to back his dream.    

The fear of the unknown is always a primal fear of mankind! This interesting yet enigmatic theme has been explored by ace director Devang Dholakia, ‘entertainment entrepreneurs’ Falguni Mehta and Sandeep Mehta, in their company, Ananta Oorjaa Events & Entertainment’s first spine-chilling presentation, ‘S’.

There is an interesting story behind the edge-of-the-seat thriller as to how it evolved in the minds of the filmmakers and the very thought led to the formation of a Company. Devang Dholakia reminisces that it all started when a DVD was found. Enigmatically, the DVD had footage that was blurred, hazy… almost impossible to watch… the picture was fuzzy, the sound was inaudible. It was a DVD of someone filming his friends. Was it a college project? a prank? a new camera being used as a toy? Devang says, “But as the DVD unraveled its mysteries, the footage got horrifying. It was almost as if the camera wanted to tell us what was happening while it was on. And the kids who were being filmed were... being killed? The DVD was disturbing. It was annoying not to know what it was. Was it a fun prank? Or more frightening, were there a bunch of kids who actually died... and were filmed while dying? Was this a matter to be investigated, or was this just another college fraternity initiation? Before we could go further, the DVD disappeared. So we couldn't go further. Logically, the chapter should have been closed. And this little incident of watching a blurred DVD should have slipped out of our minds. But it didn't. It remained. It became a nonstop thought that did not let us do anything.”

Devang Dholakia, who saw the footage, spoke to his friend, Falguni Mehta. Falguni was a friend, right from her early childhood, been sensitive to auras around her. She was neither sceptical, like a lot of Devang's friends, nor did she scoff or treat it as a joke. She understood that the Universe works around a certain kind of logic, and there were different dimensions to the entire episode of this DVD. She confided in her husband Sandeep, who had always been guided by Falguni's almost psychic intuition. It had always been Falguni's gut instincts that had led to many of his successful business coups. He listened and asked her what should be done. She suggested that Devang recreate the entire incident, from his head and film it, so that, if nothing else, he could exorcise it from his system. Sandeep agreed to fund the exercise.

Not only was "S" the film born. But so was Ananta Oorjaa Events & Entertainment.., the film company. Devang clearly remembers a big, bright red, crystal clear image of a giant ‘S’ in the original footage. Though the rest of the images were fuzzy, this was bright, the color of fresh blood, and as vivid as if it had a life and light of its own. That how the film is called "S"!!!!!!!!! It features actors Kiran Thapar, Manisha Kelkar and Kabir Wahi.

The entire film was shot in Sinhagad Institute Lonavala. In fact, even during the actual shooting of 9 days, there were strange phenomena related to spooky haunting episodes. In one such incident, the college lights would go off suddenly and the doors refused to open. Creative director Falguni Mehta used to chant while shooting was on. In fact, the cast and crew had some strange eerie experiences during the making of the film. It was a classic case of life imitating art and vice versa.

Talking about ‘S’, Devang Dholakia says, “I sincerely believe that this daringly different film, ‘S’ is a gripping film that has never been made ever in the history of Indian cinema. It will set new benchmarks in real life on reel life. It is a unique mix of a riveting story plot inspired by true-to-life events! And we shot it within a record time of 9 days.”  

Speaking about the film, Devang Dholakia says, “The universe does have its ways. Our film, ‘S’ is a recreation of events that were actually recorded on a DVD. Five college students on the last day of term have to start their vacation doing detention for various misdeeds. Three girls and two boys. Acquaintances through college, but not great friends. The detention room is the only room in the college that has students. For the rest of the staff, students and domestic help, college is shut for vacation. They don't come out alive. For what it is worth, this is their story. Fact or fiction, you decide!”

Devang adds, “The incidents have been recreated as realistically as possible. The film looks as close to the footage as possible, though visually enhanced for audiences to see. A bunch of actual kids have worked as actors, in a location which looks as close to the original as possible. And the Universe does work in strange and mysterious ways. The film has made ordinary teenage kids into actors, launched a company called, Ananta Oorjaa Events & Entertainment. And will, when released, maybe help us to find the original college where 5 students went missing mysteriously.”

By :

Parul Chawla

Picture N Kraft

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