Animation films can highlight serious subjects too: Shred Sreedhar on ‘Reena Ki Kahaani’

Animated films have often been used to entertain children. Mumbai-based filmmaker Shred Shreedhar has used it to highlight an important topic: human trafficking.

His nine-minute Reena Ki Kahaani, which was screened at the ongoing Mumbai International Film Festival, is based on the real-life tale of a girl who gets trapped in the flesh trade. It also highlights the different vulnerabilities that facilitate such crimes, like false promises and the lure of a better life to targetting girls from weaker sections of society who dream of a brighter future. “I was very moved by the idea. I felt that it was important this message reached out to children and parents,” says Shreedhar B, whose Shred Creative Lab in collaboration with Vihaan, an anti-human trafficking NGO, put together the project.

So, why animation? “Most films on the subject are dark and morbid in nature, and cannot be shown to children. We decided to do this film in the animated format so that children can watch and take pointers from it. There are lots of important topics like domestic violence that can be told through animation. It is particularly helpful when the identity of the person cannot be disclosed. Animation films can highlight serious topics too,” says Shreedhar, whose film was earlier awarded ‘Best Animation Film’ at the Mykonos International Film Festival and Crown International Film Festival (UK), “A lot of people are amazed that a dark story such as this has been narrated in this fashion.”

Currently, Shreedhar is scripting a period film based on the caste atrocities that took place in Kerala in the 1930s. “I’m currently in conversation with artistes to collaborate on this feature. We’re also involved in a lot of research for this project, in order to understand the dialect and conversational style of that period.”

Apart from Reena Ki Kahaani, The Mumbai International Film Festival, on till June 4, will also see a couple of premieres: Netflix’ original series, Mighty Little Bheem: I Love Taj Mahal episode, and the NFAI restored version of Satyajit Ray’s documentary, Sukumar Ray.

Bangladesh has been chosen as the ‘Country of Focus’ this year in commemoration of 50 years of its Independence; a package of 11 films will be presented from the country including the critically-acclaimed Hasina: A Daughter’s Tale. For those who love animation films, works of Portuguese animator Regina Pessoa, Russian animation director Aleksandr Petrov and Canadian animator and illustrator Janet Perlman will be showcased at the festival. Also screened here will be Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, which was the first animation film co-produced by India and Japan.