Column: Kavi
While they did not walk out of Kodak Theater with a golden statuette, the production team and cast of the live action short film Kavi did not need physical honors to earn the respect of filmmakers and audiences alike.
After all, anyone who watched (or will watch) Kavi, a story of young boy dealing with modern-day slavery in a small Indian village, was (or will be) emotionally touched by the film’s tough-to-swallow message.
Still, Kavi has come a long way from the depths of filmmaker Gregg Helvey’s mind. In what started as an eye-opening experience for a young graduate film student at the University of Southern California soon meandered its way to the acclaimed Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and on to the Student Oscars before finally landing in the halls of Kodak Theater on March 7th as an Academy Award nominee.
No doubt, Kavi has become quite the phenomenon, and the brain trust both in front of and behind the camera are thrilled at just how far the project has come along.
Not only is Kavi among the first selections of Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles to also be nominated for an Oscar, but it also made waves at several other film festivals before claiming victory as Best Short Narrative at last year’s Student Oscars at USC.
Still, despite the film’s positively upward journey, Helvey acknowledged Kavi has a greater purpose.
“The Oscar nomination is a dream-come-true. However, there’s more to Kavi than just a film,” he humbly stated. “It’s important to me that this issue of modern-day slavery gets recognition. This is a pivotal time to raise more awareness about modern-day slavery, and I hope this Oscar nomination does just that. Modern-day slavery is a worldwide issue. My hope is that people can use Kavi to raise awareness that turns into action.”
One of the producers who helped Helvey make his vision of fighting modern-day slavery through film a reality echoed similar sentiments.
“This movie was always about taking a stand against slave labor. It was put together as a student film and as a charity to protest modern-day slavery,” India-based producer Guneet Monga told Buzzine in an exclusive interview. “We think those times are gone, but it’s not true. The film really moves you a lot, and because of the Oscars, there is (finally) an audience for this film. Ministries in India are taking greater interest in the film.”
Monga also opined that, despite the film’s subject matter, Kavi is just as meaningful as Slumdog Millionaire in raising awareness of the sad realities still existing in today’s world while also positively representing what India is all about.
In many ways, Monga said, the involvement of films like Slumdog Millionaire and Kavi at the Academy Awards in consecutive years draws international attention to India. As a result, not only will such attention help rid some of the country’s biggest vices, such as child labor at brick kilns, but it will also open up doors and provide opportunities to various filmmakers and film crews based in the world’s second-most populous nation.
“(Kavi was a) moment of great pride for the country,” Monga said of the film’s Oscar nomination. “Air India provided us (complimentary) tickets to fly to the U.S., and the Immigration Department (expeditiously) provided a passport to (the film’s lead actor) Sagar Salunke. Slumdog was (also) huge in bringing India to the world. It does bring attention to India and says we have world-class technicians.”
It was those very technicians who worked together with Monga, Helvey, Salunke and (fellow producer) Haresh Amin to bring Kavi to the screen and raise awareness of the brutal conditions that still exist in today’s world.
The cast, crew and production team did not stop at the four corners of the movie screen in bringing Kavi’s message to the western world. Monga added, upon her arrival at Kodak Theater’s red carpet on Oscar Sunday, that everyone attending on behalf of the film spent about an hour chatting with the press and promoting their collective stories while visibly wearing blue ribbons to protest modern-day slavery.
Even more, Monga added that 30 percent of all DVD sales will be redirected to non-governmental organizations dedicated to fighting slave and child labor.
Both Monga and Helvey look forward to extending Kavi from a 19-minute short to a full-length feature, furthering their collective causes along the way.
“Kavi is a springboard for a full-length feature that explores how slavery is not just in India but in most countries, and even in our backyards. Within this film, I portray hope in the situation by showing how Indians are helping each other to combat this issue,” Buzzine previously quoted Helvey as saying. “I hope to generate the same kind of support for the feature-length version based on the short so I can reach an even wider audience with this message and play a small role in giving a voice to the voiceless.”
While Kavi did not walk away with an Oscar statuette, and a feature-length film may still be a long way away, Helvey, Monga, Amin and the 16-year-old Mumbai student Salunke have already done quite well in giving a “voice to the voiceless.”
If they needed proof, all they have to do is look back at what they have already accomplished: Student Oscar Gold Medal winner, Audience Award at IFFLA, and the Heartland Film Fest’s Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award, among others.
Kavi may not have won at the 82nd Academy Awards, but it is slowly becoming a winner in the hearts of the people who matter.
