GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
IITian-turned-filmmaker Tanmay Shah is a name to reckon with in the short film industry. All his films were made on social and environmental issues and ‘zero budget’. This Ekalavya had won many international awards in a short span of six years as proof of his mettle.
Now, Disney+ HotStar is streaming ‘Woo’, a satirical take on the usage of social media in daily life by Tanmay Shah. The six-minute short film, without any dialogue, was produced in Ahmedabad in a week with zero-budget. The lead star of this flute-tracked film is a real vagabond who eke out a living on the streets of Ahmedabad.
Being a techie himself, Shah portrays how technology usage is shaping the way we think, the way we buy, and to an extent, the way we vote. ‘Woo’ sets up that tone by showing how disconnected we are in observing things around us and how we end up becoming a slave to what is shown to us.
The person playing the flute in the film is a real vagabond who doesn’t have a home and he stays on the road with a peddle rickshaw. He is found roaming around the streets of Polytechnic area of Ambawadi in Ahmedabad asking for amends while he is playing his flute. When Shah offered him a role in his film he readily agreed to perform.
In 2016, the film was telecast by NDTV Prime on television and now made it to the OTT platform Disney+HotStar.
https://www.hotstar.com/in/movies/woo/1610017760
Tanmay Shah, Director-Cinematographer
He is the Founder and CEO at FridayFictionFilms, Ahmedabad. He is a former Research Associate from IIT-Bombay and a TEDx Speaker. His short documentary – “Pinch Of Salt” has garnered 17 international film festival awards and 33 official selections.
In 2015, he took up the project of making 52 social films in 52 weeks. “Woo” was one of the films from the same array of 52 films. Most of his films do not have any dialogues and it eliminates language as a barrier to watching films. ‘52FilmsProject’ was awarded Limca Book Of Records, India Book Of Records, Asia Book Of Records, Golden Book Of World Records for making maximum short films in a year.
