Short film 'French Cut' targets youths in love

Bhubaneswar: “Don’t take your love and lovers for granted,” says Dilshad Ayubi, an IT professional-turned-filmmaker, who is ready with his next venture ‘French Cut’ – a 20-minute long film based on contemporary relationship between a boy and a girl.

The Bhubaneswar-based filmmaker debuted with ‘Sanjeeda’, a short awareness film made in association with the Railway Protection Force which gained much appreciation from various quarters.

“This time, I tried to make a more entertaining film with a strong social message,” said Ayubi, who believes in less-on-budget-high-on-content kind of movies.

Like the previous one, the director this time too roped in newcomers, mostly college-goers and working professionals, to portray various characters in the film.

“We went to a B-school, an IT firm and an engineering college in Bhubaneswar and conducted auditions before zeroing in on Siddhanta Sharma and Sonika Tiwari, the lead pair of the movie,” said the director, who originally hails from Gaya in Bihar.

“The title ‘French Cut’, a popular facial beard style, is the crux of the story and the whole narration revolves around it,” Ayubi claimed, adding that a lot of thought has gone into it.

‘Mannchhala’, one of the two songs of the film has already been released on YouTube and gaining thumbs up from viewers with the one-minute teaser of the short movie.

The film shot at various picturesque locations in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack is slated for release on Valentine’s Day next month.

“Apart from YouTube, I am planning to screen the movie in various colleges, corporate offices and other youth hangout zones to reach out to the target audience,” said the director, who believes in growing as a filmmaker after each film.