Inspiration/ Reaserch
My inspiration have been songs that have gave me a feeling of comfort which Im aiming to add to my short film (A Lovers Paradise) songs like
“Mehdi Hassan Khan NI PP TI HI (Urdu: مہدی حسن خاں; 18 July 1927 – 13 June 2012), known as Mehdi Hassan, was a Pakistani ghazal singer and playback singer of great renown. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of ghazal singing,[4][5][6] Hassan is referred to as the Shahenshah-e-Ghazal (شہنشاہِ غزل, “Emperor of Ghazal”).[7][8][9][10][11] Known for his “haunting” baritone voice,[12] Hassan is credited with bringing ghazal singing to a worldwide audience. He is unique for his melodic patterns and maintaining integrity of the ragas in an innovative way.” (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025)
WHAT IS A GAZZAL
“(Pronounciation: “guzzle”) Originally an Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love, medieval Persian poets embraced the ghazal, eventually making it their own. Consisting of syntactically and grammatically complete couplets, the form also has an intricate rhyme scheme. Each couplet ends on the same word or phrase (the radif), and is preceded by the couplet’s rhyming word (the qafia, which appears twice in the first couplet). The last couplet includes a proper name, often of the poet’s. In the Persian tradition, each couplet was of the same meter and length, and the subject matter included both erotic longing and religious belief or mysticism. English-language poets who have composed in the form include Adrienne Rich, John Hollander, and Agha Shahid Ali; see Ali’s “Tonight” and Patricia Smith’s “Hip-Hop Ghazal.”“(The Poetry Foundation, 2024)
SINGERS
“Kishore Kumar (born August 4, 1929, Khandwa, British India—died October 13, 1987, Bombay [now Mumbai]) was an Indian actor, playback singer, composer, and director known for his comic roles in Indian films of the 1950s and for his expressive and versatilesinging voice, which, in the course of a career that spanned nearly four decades, he lent to many of India’s top screen actors.”
“Lata Mangeshkar (born September 28, 1929, Indore, British India—died February 6, 2022, Mumbai [Bombay], India) was an iconic Indian playback singer who was lovingly called Swar Kokila (vocal nightingale). Her career spanned eight decades, and she recorded songs for the soundtracks of more than 2,000 Indian films.”
This is my inspiration, audio-wise, to represent the emotions I want in my short film and the type of atmosphere I’m aiming to create. I want to create cinematography that captivates the audience with its calming and relaxing ambiance.
These songs have been a huge pillar in my life, and these artists have been a tremendous support for me. I decided to take the emotions I’ve experienced during my journey of discovering their music and art and adapt them into my short film to create a unique ambiance for my audience. Emotions such as comfort, nostalgia, and happiness will help immerse them in the storyline and world of my short film.
Visuals
I really love the cinematography of this film, for reasons such as how the colour gradient changes depending on the scene, so you can see two different scenes, one that is more happy and the other which is more sad or upsetting, and they both have a different ambience and atmosphere. The first one, which is a ‘sad’ scene, shows more colours in black and grey, and the weather is different as well. Not just the colour gradient, but also the clothes that the characters are wearing are of a darker colour. I really love the cinematography of this film, for reasons such as how the colour gradient changes depending on the scene, so you can see two different scenes, one that is more happy and the other which is more sad or upsetting, and they both have a different ambience and atmosphere. The first one, which is a ‘sad’ scene, shows more colours in black and grey, and the weather is different as well. Not just the colour gradient, but also the clothes that the characters are wearing are of a darker colour.
This other side of the scene has an opposite colour graded and cinematography, the characters are wearing more colourful clothes. the weather is shown as sunny showing positive emotions and creating a more heart warming scene.
I personally really enjoy watching this film, and I love how well-made its cinematography is. From the camera angles to the locations it’s been shot in, it’s really enjoyable and nice to see. The beautiful places, plus the colourful gradient, clothes, and characters, make it a treat for the eyesightI personally really enjoy watching this film, and I love how well-made its cinematography is. From the camera angles to the locations it’s been shot in, it’s really enjoyable and nice to see. The beautiful places, plus the colourful gradient, clothes, and characters, make it a treat for the eyesight
Actors
“Son of Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh; nephew of actors Randhir Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor. Grandnephew of actors Shashi Kapoor, Jennifer Kendal, Shammi Kapoor, Geeta Bali; cousin of actresses Kareena Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor.
Belongs to the fourth generation of highly prestigious and considered to be the first family of Bollywood (Hindi film industry): Kapoor Family.”
“Priyanka Chopra Jonas (née Chopra) was born on July 18, 1982 in Jamshedpur, India, to the family of Capt. Dr. Ashok Chopra and Dr. Madhu Chopra, both Indian Army physicians. She had a very varied upbringing. She started her education at La Martinière Girls College in Lucknow as a resident student; a short stay at Maria Goretti College in Bareilly prepared her for further studies in the U.S. Having completed tenth grade in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., she decided to become a software engineer or a criminal psychologist. She enjoys Indian music and dance; flair for writing poetry and short stories;”
DIRECTOR OF BAFII
“Anurag Basu, a Bollywood director and writer explores relationships and adversity on reel. He had his share of tough times when he was diagnosed with leukemia.
Basu directed television serials among which is Tara (1993), which became one of the first soap operas on Indian television. He also directed Balaji Telefilms’ Koshish Ek Aasha (1997) and Miit (2002), which was based on Rabindranath Tagore’s Noukadubi.”
Barfii (Information)
“Barfi! is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language period romantic comedyfilm written and directed by Anurag Basu, edited by Akiv Ali and backed by UTV Motion Pictures. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz (in her Hindi film debut) while featuring Saurabh Shukla, Ashish Vidyarthi, Jisshu Sengupta, Roopa Ganguly and Haradhan Bandopadhyay in pivotal roles. Set in Darjeeling and Kolkata of the 1970s, the film focuses on Barfi (Kapoor), a deaf-mute young man based in Darjeeling, and his relationships with two girls, the beautiful Shruti (D’Cruz) and the autistic Jhilmil (Chopra).“(Wikipedia, 2023)
“The film was selected as India’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film nomination for the 85th Academy Awards. Barfi! won several awards and nominations at various award ceremonies across India. At the 58th Filmfare Awards, Barfi! received 12 nominations including Best Director (Basu), Best Actress (Chopra) and Best Supporting Actress (D’Cruz), and won a7 awards including Best Film, Best Actor (Kapoor), Best Female Debut (D’Cruz) and Best Music Director (Pritam).”(Wikipedia, 2023)
DIRECTOR I LOOK UP TO
“Abhishek, a renowned Indian filmmaker who co-wrote and directed the critically acclaimed dacoit action film, Sonchiriya, an RSVP production. He began his career as an associate director and co-writer to Vishal Bhardwaj for his debut Makdee (2002) & went on to assist him in his subsequent films, and most notably co-wrote Vishal’s trendsetting Omkara (2006) and Kaminey (2009). Abhishek’s directorial debut, the dark comedy Ishqiya (2010) and its sequel Dedh Ishqiya (2014), both starring Naseeruddin Shah received rave reviews.”(IMDb, 2019)
Films that inspire me
“Set in the ravines of the Chambal valley, the film tells the tale of dacoits in 1975, who termed themselves Baaghis, the rebels.
Lacchu gives information to the Baaghis that a dowry of tons of gold and cash will be given to the bride by her father so DacoitMaan Singh a.k.a ‘Dadda’ should raid it. Special Task Force (STF) headed by Inspector Virendra Singh Gujjar attacks them during the loot in which Dadda gets killed. This leads to a split between the gang. Lakhna wants to surrender to the police, while Vakil Singh wants to follow Baaghi’s dharm (way of life) of rebellion.
On the run, they meet a woman with her young sister, whose family has been killed by rival gang and seeks their assistance to take her sister to hospital. As the visit the doctor at night, police raids the doctor’s house. Baaghi’s find out that the young girl belongs to untouchable caste. Lakhna blows the wall of house with gas cylinder and they all escape in a truck. Vakil initially does not let the woman on truck but when she tells her name Indumati Toomar and her village, he lets her climb.
Reaching their next stop, Indumati’s family arrives, including his husband and teenage son and tries to take both of them away. At the same time, Vakil Singh agrees to let her go, as he is the one who sent for them. Indumati reveals that she killed her father in law because he had been raping Sonchiriya and had put her life in risk. Lakhna revolts and disagrees, he takes Vakil’s brother as hostage. In this melee, Indumati’s son kills Vakil’s brother. Lakhna and the team, along with Indumati and Sonchiriya, escape and Vakil Singh vows to hunt them down and kill them all.
While crossing the Chumbal River, Lakhna tells Indumati a background story about a curse of killing innocent children inside a room by mistake which led to the Baaghis’ whole group being killed one by one. They need to find Sonchiriya (a metaphor for a ‘Saviour Girl’) to get rid of the curse. In order to reach hospital, Lakhna and group captures an influential person, whom they present to Mallah gang’s head Phuilya. After killing him Phuilya helps gang through but they are ambushed at ruins by police.
Vakil Singh finds out that Maan Singh looted the dowry house to save Lacchu’s father from inspector Gujjar knowing very well that it was a trap to kill them. Gujjar had taken him hostage and promised to free him only if Lacchu brings Baaghis to that village for the police to kill all Baaghis at once and get the reward from the government.
Vakil arrives with his gang at the ruins and help Lakhna escape with Indumati and Sonchiriya. Lakhna is shot in abdomen but he tried to get the girls to hospital but they are confronted by Indumati’s son who wants to kill his mother to avenge his grand father. Lakhna tells him that his grandfather raped his mother and was his biological father.
While the girl is being hospitalized, Lakhna, who, being chased by Gujjar, was hiding behind the tree, comes out to surrender as his task of saving Sonchiriya was finished. But by the curse, Lakhna is shot dead by Gujjar.In the aftermath, it is revealed that Vakil Singh has actually been killed by the police at the railway station, as his corpse is loaded in a tractor. Later, while traveling towards the police station after killing Lakhna, Gujjar is shot and killed by one of his Thakur constable whose uncle (another constable with him in his gypsy) was earlier assaulted and insulted by him.”
“Ishqiya is a story about love arising in characters, portrayed uniquely according to their own personal traits. The situations in the plot lead the characters to experience the emotion creeping into their lives in the most unexpected manner.
—Shemaroo Entertainment Pvt Ltd
Krishna Verma asks her husband Vidyadhar Verma to quit his life of criminal and surrender to the cops he agrees but soon a gas explosion takes in the house killing him.Two small time criminals uncle and nephew Khalu and Babban escape from their boss Mushtaq who wants to bury them alive and seek refuge in house of Vidyadhar Verma.A widowed Krishna offers them shelter in the house and starts to seduce both of them and plans to kidnap businessman Kamlakar Kakkad.Khalu and Babban both start to fall in love with Krishna getting in tiff with each other but soon realize that Krishna is using them for everything for her own benefit.
—[email protected] (Naseeruddin Shah) and his nephew, Babban (Arshad Warsi), flee with cash belonging to Mushtaq (Rajesh Sharma), the former’s Lucknow-based brother-in-law. Hoping to re-locate to Nepal with the help of Gorakhpur-based Vidyadhar Verma, they find that he is no more, and temporarily take shelter with his attractive widow, Krishna. Mushtaq soon locates and tortures them until they decide to return the cash. When they go to retrieve it, they find it missing, and he gives them until Rakhsa Bandhan to return it. Unable to unravel the mystery of the missing cash, the hapless duo, now hopelessly in love with Krishna, decide to abduct Ghaziabad-based businessman, Kamalkant Kakkad. They meticulously carry out the plan – little knowing what is in store of them in the near future.”(IMDb, 2025)
“Guddu and Charlie are identical twins born and raised in the slums of Mumbai. They dream of leaving the squalor behind and moving into a life of prosperity and dignity. Though they look alike, the two are as different as chalk and cheese: one lisps while the other stammers; one is an honest, diligent social worker while the other hedges bets at a racecourse. The brothers want nothing to do with each other, but when Charlie gets mixed up in a deadly get-rich-quick scheme and Guddu realizes that the love of his life has unwittingly put a price on his head, their lives begin to collide. Faced with rogue politicians, drug dealers and crooked cops, they uncover a sinister plot laid out by the ‘political-police-underworld’ nexus. Their stories finally converge to a point when they realize they only have each other.—UTV CommunicationsTwo twin brothers Charlie and Guddu both different from each other and suffering from disabilities Charlie Lisps while Guddu stammers.Charlie likes to take shortcuts in life and wants to be a bookie in racecourse he works for three criminal brothers,Guudu a simpleton finds from his lover Sweety that she is pregnant with him and wants to get married.Guddu and Sweety decides to get married but her brother Bhope Bhai gate crashes the wedding and wants to kill Guddu.Charlie looses all his money on a betting match by trusting a bookie and goes to take revenge on him in a hotel. In the same hotel two cops Lobo and Lele kill drug dealers and collect a guitar containing cocaine which they want to deal with drug lord Tashi.While eloping from the hotel Charlie runs with the cops vehicle which has the guitar on the other hand Sweety fights with her brother and his men and elopes with Guddu.Bhope Bhai whose searching Guddu mistakes Charlie as Guddu.While Lobo and Lele searching for Charlie and the guitar mistakes Guddu as Charlie.—[email protected]” (IMDb, 2025)
“Charlie (Shahid Kapoor) (who has a lisp and pronounces S as a F) and Guddu (Shahid Kapoor) (who stutters) are twins who were raised in Mumbai. Charlie is impatient about attaining success in life, while Guddu is more content with whatever comes his way. He wants to become a bookmaker at the racecourse where he works for three criminal brothers Mujeeb (Deb Mukherjee), Shumon (Rajatava Dutta) and Mikhail who fix races.Charlie is closer to the youngest brother Mikhail (Chandan Roy Sanyal) than to his own brother Guddu, to whom he is hostile. Mikhail is mentally unstable and borderline insane. Guddu is the nice guy, and wants to live a simple life with a honest job. A jockey deceives Charlie when he bets Rs 100,000 on a horse during a fixed race (The horse was the favorite to win the race, and Charlie bet on it losing). In a shock twist, the horse wins, resulting in Charlie losing all of his savings. Seeking revenge, Charlie beats the Jockey. The jockey reveals the name of Francis (Satyajit Sharma) who bribed him to win the race. Charlie tracks Francis at an upmarket city hotel.At the same hotel, policemen Lobo (Shiv Kumar Subramaniam) and Lele (Hrishikesh Joshi) (from the anti-narcotics cell of Mumbai Police) kill three drug dealers and collect a guitar case containing cocaine, which they must deliver to drug lord Tashi (Tenzing Nima). Charlie and his men invade Francis’s hotel room and take all his possessions and beat him up. This is when Francis’s men arrive (they were on their way out after leaving Francis in his room but returned from the lift when they realized that they forgot to give a gun to Francis for his protection), and the ensuing chase leads to the hotel car park where Lobo and Lele are placing the guitar case in their van. Charlie and his men seize the van to escape from the Francis’s men and realize they have stolen a police vehicle (when they see that all policemen at check-posts are saluting them), whilst also discovering the cocaine, which Charlie steals to sell. Lobo and Lele get a call from Tashi and have an ultimatum to deliver the guitar case by 8 am the following morning, as Tashi has promised delivery to his African client, in exchange for 2 rare and big diamonds. Lobo and Lele check the CCTV footage of the hotel and find that it was Charlie who fled with their van.Meanwhile, Guddu’s lover Sweety (Priyanka Chopra), sister of the politician Sunil Bhope (Amole Gupte), reveals that she is pregnant with Guddu’s child and expresses her wish to marry Guddu. Guddu was also attracted to Sweety because she also stutters, and he believes that they would both be able to understand each other and their limitations. Sweety wants an abortion, but Guddu considers this to be murder. But Guddu was not in favor of marriage either as he didn’t feel he was capable enough to care for another life. He earned barely enough to sustain himself. This is when Sweety reveals to Guddu that she is Bhope’s sister, and if they don’t get married, Bhope is likely to kill her.They marry later that night. Bhope hears about his sister’s actions and sends his men to apprehend the lovers. Bhope wants to be a big-name politician and hence knows that he cannot be directly involved in a crime that would tarnish his image, even though he is livid and wants to kill Guddu. Bhope’s men gatecrash Guddu’s wedding and beat him, then realize that he is a migrant from Uttar Pradesh. This enrages Bhope, who orders his men to kill Guddu and return Sweety to his house so he can arrange a marriage for her. Sweety fights off her brother’s henchmen and escapes with Guddu.Charlie keeps the cocaine in his abandoned shed by the railway tracks. Charlie tells Mikhail about the cocaine, who is delighted. Mikhail dreams of making a fortune (at least Rs 10 Crores) by selling the 100 packets of pure heroine which Charlie offered only for Rs 10 Lakhs. When Charlie returns to retrieve the case (with Mikhail waiting across the railways tracks in his car), Bhope and his men are waiting at Charlie’s railway shed (as that is also Guddu’s last known address). One of Bhope’s men recognizes Charlie as Guddu’s twin and Bhope demands that Charlie reveal Guddu’s whereabouts. Charlie offers to connect Guddu to Bhope on phone. An inebriated Mikhail interrupts their conversation and is killed by Bhope.On the way to the airport (Sweety had booked tickets for Kathmandu as their honeymoon), Guddu realizes that Sweety has faked her stutter. Later, Sweety retorts that she faked her stutter as otherwise Guddu would never make his move and would have stayed isolated in his own world. At a petrol station, Lobo and Lele notice the pair. Mistaking Guddu for Charlie, they arrest him. They assault Guddu, refusing to believe that he is Charlie’s twin brother until Guddu’s mobile phone rings; the caller is revealed to be Bhope.Lobo and Lele agree to exchange Charlie for Guddu and Sweety on a train. Bhope’s men take Guddu and Sweety to Bhope’s house, where Bhope reveals that a local builder will pay him Rs 5 Crores to marry Sweety to the builder’s son. Bhope says that he needs the money for his election campaign. Guddu bargains with Bhope-if he retrieves the cocaine-filled guitar case for Bhope, he will get Sweety. Bhope sends his henchmen with Guddu to retrieve the guitar case from Charlie’s house.Meanwhile, the policemen assault Charlie, who refuses to negotiate, realizing that the policemen are in as much trouble as himself. Meanwhile Mikhail’s brothers are not able to contact him on his mobile phone. Charlie outwits the policemen, takes them hostage and negotiates directly with Tashi to exchange the guitar case for Rs 10 Lakhs. Charlie sends the policemen to deliver the details of the exchange to Tashi and returns to his house to retrieve the cocaine. At Charlie’s house, Guddu arrives with Bhope’s men. He finds the guitar case, but the drugs were switched with equipment from the railway switch shed.Sweety hears about Bhope’s plans to kill Guddu (after they retrieve the drugs) and shoots at the members of her household. Guddu finds the case at an abandoned railways switch and fights Charlie for the drugs. Guddu asks Charlie to forgive himself for the death of their father. Their dad had stolen a watch and was arrested. The police wanted Rs 5000 as bribe to release him. Apparently, Charlie was late in getting the money (He had Rs 3000 from Guddu’s scholarship funds and gambled with it to win more) and their father committed suicide. From that day on, the brothers were estranged. Guddu tells Charlie that Sweety’s life depends on the case and Charlie lets him leave.Guddu takes the cocaine to the house where he finds Bhope’s men killed (by Mujeeb and Shumon who find Mikhail’s dead body in the house and assume Bhope’s men did it). Guddu takes the case to the narcotics department, and the honest cops. They put a wire on him to catch Bhope red handed. Meanwhile Charlie surrenders himself to Tashi, without the case. Tashi finds out that the drug case is with Bhope now.Guddu arrives at Bhope’s house the same time as Tashi and his gang, with Charlie as their hostage. Bhope and Tashi negotiate to trade the drugs, but Charlie snatches the guitar case and threatens to destroy it if Guddu and Sweety are not released. The lovers escape as the police arrive, leading to a shooting spree in which the cocaine is destroyed. Charlie’s bosses (Mujeeb and Shumon) arrive to avenge Mikhail’s death but are killed along with Bhope, Tashi and their henchmen. Charlie is shot and wounded. Sweety gives birth to Guddu’s twins and Charlie opens a bookmaking counter at the racecourse. Charlie is engaged to Sophia, a woman earlier featured in his dream.” (IMDb, 2025)
Risk assessment
I have planned to record my short film in a a public place which or in different places around college, for that I would need to take care of the equipment I borrowed and for the weather, but apart of that I believe I will be okay, thanks to my previous experience with filmmaking.
Equipment
I’m aiming to use the best and highest-quality cameras and editing software for my short film to deliver a project that’s up to industry standards, as I plan to submit this project to film festivals.
- Sony A7
- Adobe After effects\premier
- lighting if we get to need it
- tripod
Bibliography
Wikipedia. (2023). Barfi. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barfi.
Wikipedia Contributors (2025). Mehdi Hassan. Wikipedia.
The Poetry Foundation. (2024). Ghazal. [online] Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/ghazal.
The (2012). Kishore Kumar | Biography, Songs, Movies, & Facts. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kishore-Kumar.
IMDb (2019). Abhishek Chaubey – Writer, Director, Producer. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1322477/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2025].
IMDb (2022). Ranbir Kapoor – Actor, Music Department, Second Unit Director or Assistant Director. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1633541/.
IMDb. (2025). Ishqiya (2010) – Plot – IMDb. [online] Available at: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1345777/plotsummary/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2025].
IMDb. (2025). Kaminey (2009) – Plot – IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1274295/plotsummary/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2025].