Having known the place pretty well by enjoying previous visits we wanted to give something back to Channapatna and bring Channapatna to the outside world. This could be done best through a documentary and fiction
The theme of the documentary was on the future generation's view about the toys. Did they want to continue their parents' business of making toys or whether they wanted to move out and get into other streams.
The fiction was based on modernization of Channapatna toys. What if McDonalds came into Channapatna and started selling cheap happy meals with free plastic toys? Would the kids get addicted to those plastic toys and allow the wooden industry to be to rattled? Find out in the fiction
Having headed back to Channapatna on the evening of 28th July, we took off to Kalanagar and started asking the kids what they wanted to do when they grow up. They may or may not end up doing what they said but that is what they aspired to do so. Most of them wanted to be engineers, doctors or police officers. One mentioned businessman which included the business of toys but apart from that, no one else 'aspired' to be a toy maker.
Soon we spoke to Mr.Amanullah, a toy maker in Kalanagar. He gave us his views on the industry. Having accepted that the industry may not be in a good state, he says people shouldn't be complaining very much. "People keep saying the govt dosen't do this, the govt dosen't do that , then you should go ahead and do it instead of whining all the time". Those were his strong views. Making at least two new toys every week, most of his toys are exported to Singapore and many European countries.
The day we shot the fiction which included places like the Kushal Toys, Primary School close to Maya Organic, Mr Hanumantha's (Another toy maker) home, people working in Neelsandra and interaction with kids at Neelsandra. Everyone seemed to be very cooperative and loved acting in our movie. After all, telling these people you'd come on Udaya TV really works! The experience was fascinating, kids and adults gave two different perspectives. Nobody really threatened us or got angry at us (except one water buffalo) although a few of them were curious seeing what we did. The day ended in a splendid manner with kids showing us how to climb trees and showing us their lake. Boy, did they know their village very well!
On the last day, we headed off to a nearby lake in Channapatna were we had to shoot one scene of me releasing the wooden toys in a lake. It took longer than expected and we lost quite a few toys in the process, but somehow it was quite tiring as I was chased all over the lake by a buffalo whose front leg was tied to its horn.
Later on, we met Mr.Azzamullah, trophy maker in Kalanagar. He seemed to be a little more pessimistic, especially of the fact that govt is not really doing much to keep this craft alive and Chinese toys invading into India. It was interesting listening to him, one cannot ignore the facts on the ground especially the one that hurt, although he seemed to be exaggerating them to a much larger scale. Heading back home we created a small animation of the toys and reached home in Bangalore at 12:00am in the night. Having edited the movie form 12:00 am to 8:00 am, we died the next day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RQB2z8eoRw for the documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RQB2z8eoRw for the fiction
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