He was given an award for the best video among the top 18 finalists for ‘Democracy Challenge’ held in June 2010, through YouTube.[break]
Who inspired you?
My brother Abhinash Bikram Shah with whom I worked as an assistant director, and Lars Von Trier, the Denmark based filmmaker have stimulated me. Their style of filming, characterization, script, everything is awesome.
Describe your film making journey.
I had enrolled myself for an engineering degree but after a year I realized that I was actually interested in film making, so I changed tracks and headed towards Oscar College of Film Studies. It has given me immense satisfaction and an opportunity to expose my work in the international arena.
I have worked in numerous short films, since 2009. I started with ‘My Green Home,’ which depicted environmental issues and was awarded first prize by the Asian Development Bank, Philippines. Then I made ‘Mokshya,’ which deals with the journey of life and before making ‘Democracy is Black,’ I made ‘What more do I want,’ that portrays the life of a boy who lives in the slums.
What is ‘Democracy is Black’ all about?
It is my perception of democracy. I have tried to incorporate various color based definitions of democracy given by my family members and have mixed it together. Blue is for freedom, yellow is for unity, green is for peace and red is for love. When all these are merged, the color black prospers, and signifies the ‘Power of the Nation’.
What else do you enjoy besides filmmaking?
I enjoy writing dark poems about love and tragedy but I keep them to myself. I write articles and surf the net until late night.
What are your future plans?
I’m going to be here for the next four years learning, gathering knowledge, and making more movies. After that I wish to go abroad for my master’s degree.
You can watch all of Anup’s video on YouTube.
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