While most university students spend their spare time at the campus bar, Bhaveek Makan was writing, filming and producing a feature-length Bollywood-style movie in between his studies.
The 19-year-old Mount Royal student partnered with his brother, Jashan Makan, 16, to make Eat Ghee, a tale about an Indian boy with an unusual background. In the works for the past year, the finished film was released yesterday on YouTube.
“There’s not a lot of Indian movies coming out of Calgary,” said Makan. “We wanted to bring attention to the community by taking typical stereotypes and making them something we could laugh about.”
Makan also drew on his experience coming to Canada from South Africa as a young boy.
“The culture shock I felt is shown in the film in an exaggerated way.”
Already garnering attention from the online community, the Makans are no strangers to movie making. They won the Young Renegade Award for their film Experts Say in the 2009 Calgary Youth by Youth Cinema Competition.
The dramatic short was only seven minutes long, but sparked their desire to continue movie making.
“They’re always picking up the camera,” said mother Darshana Makan.
The brothers are self-taught, using equipment they purchased or received over the years.
Friends and family, including their parents, acted in the film, thus their only costs were time and energy.
Lead actress Azra Lallany, 18, credited Makan as the reason her acting in the movie came with ease.
“He’s an amazing director who told us just what to do,” she said. “I definitely want to be in their next movie.”
Music producer Naanak Sodhi, 16, said he is confident that the team will find success in the future.
“We’re going to Hollywood.”
