Mira Nair to Come up with Four Short Movies on AIDS

Famous Bollywood movie director Mira Nair has decided to make four short movies on the social issue AIDS. The duration of each film will 15 minutes. In order to increase awareness regarding this fatal disease among the general people, she has already started a project named “The AIDS JaaGo Project”. With the association of another project Avahan, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to protect AIDS from India, Nair has taken this initiative of making four films. She is very optimistic about this project and hopes to make it a blockbuster. Now Running reported:

"They (films) are going to piggyback on Bollywood blockbusters and find the masses who are going to watch blockbusters. They will be permanently linked to A-grade Bollywood movies and going by the reach of Bollywood it will be shown in India and abroad," Nair told reporters here Monday.

"It will be a part of the DVD if that can be worked out. In addition, we will have a one-hour film where the collection of the four films will be clubbed together along with the panel of directors speaking. And that will be showcased in a massive way on television and film festivals," she added.

When asked what prompted her to venture into this field, she said: "I came to it after an intimate loss but also because of the general fact that how terrible it is."

She has picked up the choicest of filmmakers - Vishal Bhardwaj, Farhan Akhtar and Santosh Sivan - who each will make a 12-minute film, along with one by herself.

Bhardwaj has already finished his script for a thriller and would start casting.

"The films are expected to be complete by June 15. After that it will take us six to eight weeks to put them together. It would be ready to be shown from Sep 1 onwards.

"They are going to be low budgets and we are not making salaries out of these movies. Everyone will be paid but it will be a sort of token amount rather than the millions mostly make. The idea is not to make money but to make exciting cinema. It will look as good as other movies but it will not make people's pocket fatter."

Nair also said that if this project becomes a success then this initiative will continue in the following year. I think, the initiative Nair taken is very pragmatic and in order to increase awareness among the people, movie is a great source considering its mass attraction. However, making this project successful, it is needed to include star actors and actresses of Bollywood. People will be influenced much by the star actors and actresses than a new comer as the main objective of this project is not making money rather just to increase awareness on AIDS.