Aalaap – makes the difference in Chhatisgarh
The youth in the country today are reacting very fast to a trailor of a film on India’s biggest internal security threat as admitted already by the Prime Minister Manmohan SIngh – Naxalism. The film called Aalaap is the first indigenously produced Bollywood film out of Chhatisgarh – India’s most volatile Central Indian state.
Jointly produced by educationists Nishant Tripathi and Abhishek Mishra and directed by debutant Manish Manikpuri, the film is the first such effort to be based entirely in Chhattisgarh and made by a bunch of passionate people who hail from the area and feel for the cause.
Says Tripathi, a teacher by profession, “Aalaap’ is such a baby that it had to take birth in the current scenario of this state. The idea to do this film emerged from my love to do something for our state and for our society. Cinema is such a medium where we can spread your message to the widest possible audience.”
Originally from Bhilai, director Manikpuri says that he longed to travel to the Naxal-infested areas as a kid but couldn’t because his family was scared. He says he had been dreaming of doing something about this situation from that day itself. “It’s a bitter reality we are living in today,” he says, adding, “Till today, we have no solution for the Naxal problems. In ‘Aalaap’, too, we are not trying to give out a solution. We haven’t given guns to our guys and instructed them to kill like it happened in ‘Rang De Basanti.’ We realised the biggest weapon to fight such issues is music. When you put on music, people forget their worries and problems. ‘Aalaap’ is one such film where you will empathise with the problems of Chhattisgarh and feel for its youth.”
Award winning actor Pitobash plays a very crucial role in the film which also stars Amit Purohit, Onkardas Manikpuri, Raghuveer Yadav, Abhimanyu Singh, Murli Sharma among others.
“The people there have suffered a lot and we just tried to address the issue through this film in a positive manner. The story of Aalaap revolves around three aimless youngsters and I am one of them. My character is called Subhash; he is introvert, simple, very silent. In their journey, they chance upon meeting Rahul, the fourth person and they form a rock band together. They gradually become famous, and they get awarded. They realise that there are greater problems that need to be tackled in Chattisgarh that is infested by Naxalism. I played a very different character in this movie from my other films,” says Pitobash.
The music by Agnee is also fast catching on. The songs are a rage among a large section of the youth today also because of the penetration of the rockband.
Says Abhishek Mishra: “The film is a classy product made from the heart and the music is its USP. I am very happy to be associated with this project. This movie has a great story on friendship, love, music, politics, revenge and violence. It is a musical one indeed. The film explores the different sides of Naxalism. It looks at how this affects & involves people from different sections of our society.”
Aalaap, like the origin of the word, is an unmetered musical prelude, to eradicating naxalism from Chattisgarh. Now to see whether the rest of the youth manage to finish the song whose aalaap was sung by Tripathi and team.
