Kids make feature film on Merchant of Venice on 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death

Amitava Banerjee, HT, 18 Sep 2016, DARJEELING: Students of St. Joseph’s School, North Point, Darjeeling, paid rich tribute to William Shakespeare by making a full length feature film of “Merchant of Venice” on the 400th year of his death.

It is probably for the first time anywhere that school students have made a full length feature film, that, too, from their school text. The film is not an adaption but exactly as Shakespeare had written it.

Rephrasing Neil Armstrong’s words, Subroto Ghose, film editor, Doordarshan, said, “It is a small step for these boys, but a giant leap for students.”

Ghose was addressing a packed school auditorium at the premiere show of the movie.

Ghose, who is also an alumnus of St. Joseph’s, Darjeeling, said, “North Point students are film literates. They are interested in films and appreciate good films. Recently we have had a 10-day workshop on filmmaking. Later we had a 10-day long film festival.”

The film was shot mostly on the school campus along with the Bishop House and Loreto Convent School in Darjeeling. With all three being Gothic compounds with sprawling gardens coupled with sound of flowing water in the movie score, Venice was deftly recreated in Darjeeling.

The students started shooting the movie in March-end this year. “I completed editing on the morning of the premiere show. It was a Herculean task for me as this was for the first time I had a brush with film editing. The software was new too. A class 12 student Raman Mohra helped me with the software,” said Gaurav Sinha, a class 10 student who wants to take up filmmaking as a hobby. For all the students involved in making the movie, it was their first time. One of the biggest challenges faced by the students was the backdrop noise of vehicles honking from the adjacent ro a d an d other sounds during shooting.

“I was astonished to see that sound dubbing had been done for the full length feature by the students. It is very difficult to synchronise the dialogues with the lips of the actors. The students did a commendable job,” explained Ghose.

Ratul Raunier Pradhan, a class 9 student had undertaken this tedious job without much ado. “I love sound and want to become a sound engineer. I love music. I play the guitar, piano and sing too,” said Pradhan. The background score was composed by Pradhan.

As St. Joseph’s is a boys’ school, students of Loreto Convent were cast in the three female roles of the play.

“Audio visual and performing arts is the most powerful tool. Some of the boys were interested in the project as they had shot scenes of the play ‘Merchant of Venice’ which we had staged last year. As the text is part of their syllabus, I saw it as an excellent opportunity for the boys to learn while making the movie,” said Father Shajumon, Rector, St. Joseph’s School.

In the past also, the school staged plays from their syllabus. “This year our senior school staged ‘Arms and the Man’ which is a syllabus text. The primary school will be staging ‘Huckleberry Finn’ which is also a school text and the class 9 and 10 boys made the ‘Merchant of Venice’,” added Father Shajumon.