{"id":7119,"date":"2016-07-15T02:51:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T21:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7119"},"modified":"2016-07-15T02:51:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T21:21:46","slug":"why-bittu-the-live-action-short-film-shortlisted-for-the-oscars-deserves-all-our-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=7119","title":{"rendered":"Why Bittu, the Live Action Short Film Shortlisted for the Oscars, Deserves All Our Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<span class=\"dropcap\">F<\/span>ew award shows around the world draw as much attention as the Oscars. It\u2019s a tag \u2013 Oscar-winner, Oscar-nominee \u2013 that actors and filmmakers carry along for a lifetime. Bittu director Karishma Dev Dube, along with the cast and crew, must be feeling that nervous excitement as their film has been shortlisted in the Live Action Short Film category for the 93rd Academy Awards. Is an Oscar coming home? Time will tell.\n\nWhile Lijo Jose Pellissery\u2019s Malayalam film <em>Jallikattu<\/em> is out of the Oscar race, <em>Bittu<\/em>, directed by Dube and collaboratively backed by Ekta Kapoor, Guneet Monga, Tahira Kashyap, and Ruchikaa Kapoor under their cinema collective Indian Women Rising is still in the race. The short film competed with 174 films to make it to the list of 10 finalists in the Live Action Short Film category.\n\nTahira Kashyap, one of the producers of the film wrote in an Instagram post, \u201cCan\u2019t contain my excitement! Our first project under Indian Women Rising directed by Karishma Dev Dube makes it to the Academy top 10 for Best Live Action Short Film category. Taking progressive steps towards Oscars 2021. It\u2019s now competing for a spot in the final 5 nominations! Let\u2019s make our country proud. Team invincible. Please keep showering the film and the collective with a lot of love and blessing.\u201d\n\nAt the centre of <em>Bittu<\/em>, is a fierce eight-year-old girl ready to take on the world; it\u2019s a touching story of her friendship with her classmate overshadowed by an inevitable tragedy. The <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/460374668\">trailer<\/a> opens with a teacher asking children, \u201cAcche bacche kaise hote hai?\u201d They respond by putting their finger on their lips and it is their silence that stays with us long after the film is over.\n\n<em>Bittu<\/em> is based on a true story, inspired by a poisoning accident that took place in a government school in Bihar in 2013. \u201cThis film is less about why and how the poisoning happened; instead, it explores a child\u2019s experience suddenly and senselessly thrown into such peril\u2026 In reimagining the narrative, I took the story to a remote village in the Himalayas\u2019 forgotten side, a place that was also home to my boarding school growing up. It was here when I formed my complicated relationship with authority, much like the one Bittu has with her teachers in school,\u201d Karishma explained.\n\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p><em>Bittu<\/em>  doesn\u2019t feature any big stars, instead, the director opted for street casting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nUrging us to watch <em>Bittu<\/em>, film critic Anupama Chopra <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=r3kjObAsqwM\">says<\/a>, director Karishma Dev Dube, \u201cnudges us to consider the consequences on inequity, especially for girls\u201d. \u201cWith education and opportunity what will Bittu and countless Indian girls like her become?\u201d Chopra says it\u2019s a question that will haunt us.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cinestaan.com\/reviews\/bittu-44021\">Cinestaan<\/a> described the performances of the children as the strength of the film. \u201cThe colour palette foreshadows the impending gloom and reflects the tone of the film, while the cinematography captures the gloominess of the isolated landscape, contrasting it with the vivaciousness of the two girls,\u201d the review stated.\n\n<em>Bittu<\/em> doesn\u2019t feature any big stars, instead, the director opted for street casting. Karishma went to local communities and government schools in the rural areas, organised theater workshops and selected kids for her film. Rehearsals went on for two months, and the eventual film was shot in six days. Rani Kumari who plays Bittu makes your heart ache, Renu Kumari who essays the role of her friend Chand is endearing.\n\nThe fact that the film delivers a strong message through its powerful storyline and features local talent, adds to its charm.\n\nKarishma Dube has bagged the Director\u2019s Guild of America (DGA) Student Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in the Asian American Category for <em>Bittu<\/em>. Producer Guneet Monga\u2019s 2018 film, <em>Period. End of Sentence<\/em>, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2019. Let\u2019s hope the winning streak continues. For Bittu is a story that needs to be heard by many.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bittu is a touching story of friendship between two school girls in a village. The film which has been shortlisted for the Oscars has no big stars. Instead, director Karishma Dev Dube went to local communities and government schools in the rural areas to pick her cast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":7120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[11102,11103,11104,2200,11105,11106,11107,11108,1425,11109,10839,11110],"class_list":["post-7119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-93rd-academy-awards","tag-bittu","tag-bittu-oscars","tag-ekta-kapoor","tag-guneet-monga","tag-indian-women-rising","tag-karishma-dev-dube","tag-live-action-short-film","tag-oscars","tag-ruchikaa-kapoor","tag-short-film","tag-tahira-kashyap"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Bittu, the Live Action Short Film Shortlisted for the Oscars, Deserves All Our Love<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bittu is a touching story of friendship between two school girls in a village. 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