A Hindi film adaptation of Nobel winning playwright Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms” has turned to crowdfunding to finance the post-production of the motion picture.
Set in Uttar Pradesh, “Peepal Jhoomey Morey Aangna” conceptualized, adapted and directed by city-based theatre artist Mohit Tripathi, is now looking to raise an amount of Rs 5 lakh via a crowdfunding campaign on Wishberry.in.
Tripathi penned the Hindi adaptation three years after he read the original play.
He has lent an Indian perspective to the original story revolving around the desires of three people brought together by familial bonds.
“I had memories of disputes in the family or village that I witnessed while growing up, as it is quite common in rural UP. The story seemed very real to me so I adapted it for the movie in the rustic settings of the state,” says Tripathi, who has also worked as an associate director for critically acclaimed Hindi film “BA Pass”.
Due to lack of funds, the film, which began as a theatre piece, was shot in a makeshift set created by the team members on the terrace of their building here.
“We could not afford to shoot in real locations. It took us more than a month to create a village house on our terrace.
And that too without any professional help, as we were short of funds.
“The entire team has contributed financially, mentally, and physically for the project. So this project is already being crowdfunded. Since we don’t have any other means left to complete this film, we thought of crowdfunding it online,” Tripathi says.
Explaining how the money would be put to use, the campaign online notes – Rs 2,00,000 for editing, Rs 1,00,000 for sound and dubbing, Rs 1,00,000 for music, Rs 50,000 for administration fee and another Rs 50,000 for miscellaneous expenses.
“After completing the shoot, we realized that we had no money left for post production. We could not do it ourselves as we are left with editing, dubbing, music, sound and other post production work,” Tripathi says.
Once the team manages to raise the amount, they plan to send the film to national and international film festivals for screening.
“We do wish to give this film a theatrical release. It is a big challenge since there is no big star in the film but we will try to get some distributor to release the film,” Tripathi says.
From Agencies, Feature image courtesy victoriabid
