Anshul Sinha's 'Mitti - Back to the roots'


Before I tell you what is this about, let me go back to the roots of #SunshineInterviews and remind you that the TEDxHyderabad 2015 Speaker, filmmaker ‘ANSHUL SINHA’, is the one who encouraged me to do these interviews, he being the first one to give his interview. So after his ‘Gateway to heaven’, a critically acclaimed docu-drama which has been screened at various International Film Festivals, there’s curiosity all around about what he’s doing next. Let’s find out now!

Presenting ANSHUL SINHA’s next!

Mitti - Back to the roots


About the film

‘Mitti - Back to the roots’ is a 90 minutes docu-drama based on Agrarian crisis in India. This film will be covering 25 Major issues which are responsible for Agriculture crisis and Farmer suicides in our country.



About the Director

Before making Mitti, Anshul Sinha has made 41 films which helped him to bag 104 awards at National and International Film Festivals. He quit his job of Assistant Manager in Accenture, to start working full-time in this project.
“When I started this project, I got a job as an Assistant director in a production house. After 3 months of research work under the guidance of GV Ramanjaneyulu, we didn't get any thumbs-up from the production house, then I started working for Mitti, at night times. In August 2016, the story was ready and I was ready to shoot the film. But due to lack of support from the production house, I quit my job again in October and started searching for producers”, Anshul explains.

Funding of the project

About the funding, he says, “In December, our story boards and dummy visualisation were ready, and we started approaching production houses in Mumbai and Hyderabad. But we didn't get an affirmative response from them. On December 16, we started our ‘crowd-funding’ campaign. By the end of January, we were able to collect enough budget to complete the project. This crowd-funding was supported by Suresh Ediga, Dinesh Chandrashekar, Viiveck Verma and many others. 150 people came forward to support our film on agrarian crisis in India.” The camera, which is used to shoot the film, was sponsored by Raasta Studios.



Synopsis of the film

Genre - Social
Duration - 90 Minutes
Language - Hindi


Logline
How does a young agricultural scientist saves a village from being sold?

Synopsis
Ekta, A young agricultural scientist finds out from her research that there are several harmful chemicals being consumed in our daily food intake and does her part to break this poisonous cycle. Further she finds out the major reasons behind the agrarian crisis and farmer suicides happening in our country. The story revolves around three farmers facing several problems in farming and how the guidance of a young scientist will help them in saving their village from being sold.

Objective
This project is a result of one year of research on the reasons behind the suicides of the farmers in our country. The research was done by the team headed by Mr. Anshul Sinha under the mentorship of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad, which was founded by Mr. G V Ramanjaneyulu, an Agricultural scientist. The project portrays 25 major issues of agrarian crisis which are the main reasons behind 2.5 lakh farmer suicides happened in our nation.



Vision
The film gives a clear glimpse of the problems known from our research. It mainly aims at saving every farmer from giving up farming & their life, and in the process, inspiring them and the society on the basic aspects of the organic farming.

Director’s Prior Work
Anshul Sinha has completed 41 films till now and has received 102 Awards at various International and National film festival. His latest film Gateway to heaven has received 11 International nominations in various International film festivals.



Key Creative Personnel
Mr. Sarvana kumar is the cinematographer for the film. VFX of the film is taken care by Mr. Kiran Nani, who has worked for films like Baahubali, Lingaa, etc. Animation of the film will be done by Mr. Pruthvi Indla, who works as a character designer for famous cartoon series ‘Chota Bheem’. Casting of the film is handled by Mr. Rajnish Sharma & Mr. Sandeep Yadav, who has directed and acted in more than 150 theatre productions. Mr. Saravana KV, Mr. Babu Yadav, Abhilash Rao, and Pintu Kumar, are the Assistant Directors of the film.

Outreach & Distribution
Explaining about the film’s outreach strategy, Anshul tells, “Apart from theatrical release at national level, we are also planning to do road shows in many villages of India under the guidance of ‘Centre for Sustainable Agriculture’. There are many foundations and trusts in India who are working for the betterment of farmers and agriculture in India. Our team will try to reach out to the maximum foundations for the better promotion of this film.”

The Cast
Jr. Scientist - Anumeha Rai
Sr. Scientist - Subhash Gupta
1st Farmer - Sandeep Yadav
2nd Farmer - Dr.Harishchandra Rayala
3rd Farmer - Abhinay Shukla
1st Farmer's Wife - Sakshi Malhotra
2nd Farmer's Wife - Suhani Sharma
3rd Farmer's Wife - Satyaveni
Mediator - Pushpesh Pant


The Crew
Babu Yadav
Abhilash Rao
Pintu Kumar
K Dayakar


In Conversation with the Lead Actor, Ms. Anumeha Rai


About her
Anumeha Rai is an IT professional at TCS. She was passionate about acting and theatre since school & college days. But she started professional acting, last year. She has done 5 plays, a few short films, and is associated with the theatre groups - Dramanon & KissaGo.



Her experiences on working for 'Mitti - Back to the roots'
"Anshul and his team's dedication has motivated me to take up the role", says Anumeha. Describing her experiences, she shares that she never felt that she was acting, as she was totally absorbed in the story. "The issues covered in the film won't singularly affect the farmers, but would add up making them to take up extreme steps", says a wiser Anumeha, when asked about the learning experience. "It's an awesome experience to know that you are doing a film that will have a great impact on society and help resolve the agrarian crisis. It also aligns with my vision of helping my parents in the farm. It's incredible to work with the team that's so enthusiastic. The people from Center for Sustainable Agriculture have been very compassionate and supportive. The dedication shown by everyone who is directly & indirectly involved in this film, has inspired me a lot", she concludes.

Thank you Anumeha Rai for sharing your experiences. Good luck!



Here's a short video about 'Mitti - Back to the roots'




You can watch his TEDxHyderabad talk here:


Thank you Anshul Sinha for sharing your new movie update with us!

Hope your film reaches out to every farmer in our country and inspires them with your solutions. Hope it impacts the society in a big way, making each one of us realize the potential of the farmers and the value of our agriculture!

Jai Kisan! Jai Hind!

Comments

  1. May i know the release date of the Movie, i'm very much interested to watch this movie.

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