The trials and tribulations faced by leaders during the formation of the Aam Admi Party (AAP), a political outfit stemming from the anti-corruption movement, fills the reels of a forthcoming feature-length political documentary.
Two young filmmakers Vinay Shukla and Khushboo Ranka are ready with their documentary 'Preposition For A Revolution' whose first frame was shot when the AAP was formed and travels to the crucial Delhi elections, covering the ups and downs of this youngest political outfit in the largest democracy.
The duo, who was here at the NFDC Film Bazaar, is now scouring for distributors to release it.
Khushboo says during the entire documentary, there is no voice-over or interview and they never came face-to-face with party chief Arvind Kejriwal or any of the leaders.
"We were inside the room when they were strategising, so we shot them strategising, arguing, fighting, laughing because we were behind them shooting. They wouldn't have given such an access to any journalist. We got there before any press was there," says Vinay.
The filmmakers, who have no formal training in the field, recalled how when they were interacting with their friends in USA and Canada, there was curiosity about the anti-corruption movement that had spurted in India.
"We were travelling in the middle of 2012, when we heard that the people who were beyond the anti-corruption movement were going to start the party. That time we thought this is an interesting choice and we were talking about it to our friends in the US and Canada and everybody said this is going to be an interesting story.
That's what we also felt so when we came to India we were not hearing anything about the party. That's when we thought of travelling to Delhi and see ourselves personally. That's how we landed up in Delhi with our camera," explained Vinay.
He said the launch of the party is the first frame when we actually started shooting.
Earlier to that, we were documenting them or observing them for sometime but launch of the party was when we actually began shooting, Vinay added.
"It's by chance that it is AAP, but it is more about the birth of a party. Every party begins with ideas and with passion. And the question we are chasing whether is there a space in politics. That is what the film explores through these protagonists who happen to be AAP leaders and Arvind Kejriwal. We followed them for a year even till Delhi elections," said Khushboo.
The newly-formed outfit won the Delhi assembly elections handsomely surprising everyone.
"It's not a success of the party per se. At the end of that year it could have gone anywhich way, they could have lost or won. We followed what exactly happens for the party when it takes birth. How does a political movement become a political party ? Can you really make a political party in 21st century ? What are the values of 21st century party when there is access to so much of information," Vinay said.
The filmmaker duo claimed that they remained as distant as possible from the leaders while shooting the film.
"What we were doing was only rolling our cameras, we were just observing. That gave us objectivity that we needed. Its a feature length documentary. It's an observational film, which means that we have no voice-over or interviews," said Khushboo.
The film has lot of Kejriwal speeches and events including the historic swearing-in at the Ramleela Maidan.
Khushboo feels that AAP's ups-and-downs are part of its political evolution.
"AAP will go through its cycles. There is enough happening in the film which shows their ups and downs. Even in the film you will see that they (leaders) are despairing. What we are trying to say is that their ups and downs will continue. But what we do say in the film, we were able to go so close to these people and know how they think. Whatever we shot are not the parts of any news reels," she commented.
During the entire shoot, the AAP leaders knew that they are being captured on camera.
"They knew that we are doing (documentary) but we were not in touch with them. It's a political documentary but at the same time it is not about current affairs. We are not trying to tell news, what we are trying to tell is a universal story which is going to be timeless. We are not spoon feeding you anything... what we say is that we will show you and you judge. It's beyond one party," Khushboo added.
