Never Force Children to Give Shots: Amole Gupte

Mumbai: Filmmaker Amole Gupte, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film Sniff!!! says when he works with children he ensures that they are comfortable and never forces them to give shots.

Gupte's directorial has been shot at the St, Mary's school here. Not only did he choose this 153-year-old school to shoot the film he also conducted an acting workshop with the students and brought the school's very talented boys in front of the camera.

The school's principal Father Dr Francis Swamy has written an appreciative letter to the students' parents expressing joy at how Gupte shot his film on the premises.

The letter reads: "Over the course of last year Mr. Amole Gupte offered to conduct acting workshops free of cost in our school and was keen that some of our boys and teachers get a chance to become part of this beautiful movie. The workshops conducted by Amole covered Art, Theatre and Cinema.

The principal stated that the children who attended these workshops were shown movies of Charlie Chaplin and Iranian films.

"Children were encouraged to enact small skits and were given a few voice exercises. The boys who were selected for the movie were very much a part of these workshops. The director took care of the fact that the shootings for our boys were held only on weekends and during their vacation and none missed out on their school academics.

The letter mentioned how Gupte made sure about the comfort of the students.

"On mornings of the shoot, Amole would personally sit with the boys and explain the scenes to them thus creating beautiful moments and capturing their natural expressions."

Amole says he is always particular while shooting with children.

"If you remember, when I was the chairperson of the Children's Film Society I fought for and obtained a time limit on the number of hours children work on television and in cinema. When I work with my children I ensure they are comfortable and never force them to give shots," Gupte said.

The director says he shoots according to the "natural clock" of children. He also mentioned shooting in the school gave him a chance to get to know and work with wonderful, bright and talented boys.

"For me cinema is not just about what goes on camera. It's more about what happens when the cameras are not looking, about getting to know young minds," he added.

The film is slated to release on Friday.