Karishma Dev Dube: Started writing the film from a place of anger

A still from Bittu

Over a week after mid-day reported about Guneet Monga, Ekta Kapoor and Tahira Kashyap joining forces to establish Bollywood's first women in cinema collective, Indian Women Rising (IWR) has chosen Bittu as their maiden project. Karishma Dev Dube's Student Oscar-winning film has now joined the race for the Best Short Film at the Academy Awards 2021. "My producers Mary Evangelista, Shreya Dube, and I sought support for a publicity campaign, leading up to the shortlist. Guneet and I had touched base after the Student Academy win. Soon, it became an organic partnership," begins Dube.

Karishma Dev Dube

With Indian short films Natkhat and Shameless in the running for the golden statuette this year, does she feel a sense of inherent advantage due to the Student Oscar? "At the end of the day, statistics and wins hardly matter. It's a level-playing field, and your work has to speak for itself. I'm proud that India has so many quality films in the running."

Ekta Kapoor, Guneet Monga and Tahira Kashyap

Rooted in the 2013 food poisoning tragedy in Bihar where 23 children died after having a mid-day school meal, Bittu tells the story through the lens of two schoolgirls. "I started writing the film from a place of anger when I first learned about the incident. The feeling was stuck in my chest, and grew stronger when it happened a few times later. But it never quite worked for me until I decided to centre the story on these two girls' friendship. I wanted to tell a re-imagination of the incident without going into how or why it happened," says Dube, adding that she "lucked out" with Rani Kumari and Renu Kumari who play the central roles. "I wanted the kids to have an inherent relationship with the place, so, I didn't want professional child actors playing the parts."