''Prarambha'' (

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, 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 English la ...

: Beginning) is a 2007 Indian

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

directed by

Santosh Sivan Santosh Sivan ISC (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 ...

and funded by Bill Gates foundation. 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 language, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu language films also appeared in few Kannada and Malayal ...

, Skandha and B. Saroja Devi 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 most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

in 2007. The movie screened for the first time in India on 1 December 2007 at 38th International Film Festival of India.

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 is Mirabai Films. Among her films are '' Mississippi Masala'', '' The Namesake'', the Golden Lion–winning '' Monsoon Wedding'', ...

's noble project ''AIDS Jaago'' (AIDS Awake), a series of four short films, ''Prarambha'' (directed by Sivan, ''Migration'' (directed by Nair), '' Positive'' (directed by Farhan Akhtar) and '' Blood Brothers'' (directed by Vishal Bhardwaj) in a joint initiative of Nair's Mirabai Films, voluntary organisations Avahan and

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

with a view of creating awareness about

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. The film was made for

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

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

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

. 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 being HIV-positive.

Plot

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

Cast

- Puttaswamy Gowda (Truck Driver) * B. Saroja Devi - School Principal * Skandha - Kittu * Jayanthi - Grandmother * Anu Prabhakar - Mother * Ramya - Sex Worker * Sadhu Kokila - Gunda * Jai Jagadish - Policeman * Chitra Shenoy - 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 Youtube.com 2000s Kannada-language films 2007 films Indian short films HIV/AIDS in Indian films