GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
Actor-producer Jay Patel, who was born in Gujarat and raised in America, says he looks at the world as one big community and storytelling as an art that can connect people with each other.
His film, “I’m Gonna Tell God Everything”, is based on the real story of about five-year-old who died in a bomb blast in Syria. Moments before his death, the child uttered his last words to the doctor, “I am gonna tell God everything.”
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The story of the film was written by Katherine King and Hollywood actors were selected for the film. All the actors have refused to accept any salary. Patel said the boy’s last words shook him and he decided to tell his story through the short film.
“‘I’m Gonna Tell God Everything’ is based on a true story about a five-year-old kid who died in the Syrian war. I wanted to tell this story because when two countries fight, then victims are mostly women and children though they have nothing to do with the war.
“I felt that as a part of the society, we have a responsibility. We have to tell the truth about what’s going on there,” Patel, who has produced the film, told the media at a special screening at PVR Cinema in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
A video of Sanjay Dutt was shown before the screening of this short film, showing Dutt launching the poster of the film and spoke that there is a need for peace in the world and this is the particular message that the film portrays.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the epitome of non-violence known to the world as Gandhiji, is celebrating his birthday on October 2nd. He has proved how much strength there is in non-violence by giving freedom to India through non-violent struggle. However, somewhere in the world there is a war or a war-like situation. Even now there is a war going on between Ukraine-Russia, Armenia-Azerbaijan, or the rising tensions between Taiwan and China.
Talking about the nineteen-minute film ‘I’m Gonna Tell God Everything’, Jay Patel says that the background of the film is the ongoing war in Aleppo, Syria, and the center of the story is a child named Yusuf.
When Yusuf, who lives in Syria, is killing ants, his mother tells him, you should not harm the ants, if the ants go up, they will complaint about you to God. This thought stayed in Yusuf’s mind. Regarding the plot of ‘I’m Gonna Tell God Everything’, author Katherine King says that people promote violence along with terrorism for their personal gain and children are victims without reason. Yusuf is a symbol of child victims of terrorism.
Yusuf saw his father being threatened, beaten and injured by terrorists. Despite this, his father continues to wage a crusade to present the reality of Syria to the world. However, one unfortunate evening while Yusuf was sleeping in his room, terrorists killed his father and mother. Yusuf escapes the terrorists’ bullets but the matter does not end there. The terrorists set fire to the house in which Yusuf sustains severe burns. However, her seven-year-old sister Samia survives. Yusuf is taken to American Charity Hospital. Where Yusuf reveals who killed his parents. With that he says, I will tell God everything… and Yusuf takes his last breath. The film ends here but leaves everyone thinking that war-terrorism must end now. The role of Yusuf in the film is played by Vivaan Bisoi of Indian origin living in America. (CBS TV show, life in pieces)
Vivaan’s emotional performance will leave the audience heartbroken. So the role of Yusuf’s father Anis is played by multilingual actor Essam Faris. While Yusuf’s seven-year-old real sister Samia has played the role of Noor in the film. The terrorist leader is played by Armenian-American actor Roman Michian. The interesting thing is that the writer of the film, Katherine King, played the role of the friendly doctor Elisa, while Dr Mitul Trivedi is played by producer Jay Patel.
‘I’m Gonna Tell God Everything’ won the Best Short Film Award at the Norway Film Festival. So a special screening of the film was held at the 50th International Film Festival of India organized in Goa.
The multiple award winning film ‘I’m Gonna Tell God Everything’ is co-produced by Abhishek Dudhaiya who produced and directed ‘Bhuj – The Pride of India’ with Ajay Devgan.
