‘Who Am I’ set to world premiere at UK Asian Film Festival in London
Film ‘Who am I’ based on critically acclaimed novel ‘Ko Aham’ starring actor Shashie Vermaa who is best known for ‘Panchayat’, ‘Shorgul’ and others and actor Chetan Sharma of ‘Sacred Games 2’ fame, is all set for world premiere at 24th UK Asian film festival screening on 12th May in London.
Helmed by 22 year old director Shireesh Khemariya and produced by Shirish Prakash, the story is set in a small town on the banks of river Narmada which also features Munna Bhai M.B.B.S fame Veteran actor Surendra Rajan and debutante actress Rishika Chandani. Writer Ashok Jamnani, author of the novel wrote film’s initial draft as well.
Talking about the film director Shireesh Khemariya says, “Who am I is a film that thematically categorizes itself in a “Philosophical Drama” genre. In my opinion, consideration of a film in its philosophical significance is a less touched idea especially when we talk about a river quite famous in India, the Narmada River. How circumambulating (Parikrama) the Narmada River transpires the quest of existential perspective, has been the core idea that travels throughout the film, for it’s symbolic of the never-ending existential concerns that humans experience sooner or later.”
Sharing his working experience with the actors director Shireesh shares,”When the script was still nascent and we were still shaping characters, I had in mind Chetan Sharma for Bhavitavya, Shashie Varma for VLN sir and Surendra Rajan for Swami ji. I could only visualize them as characters. It was really fortunate that we could get them on board. It was really an enlightening process to work with such mature and veteran actors. Surendra ji , Chetan and Shashie ji made it easy for me and shooting for ‘Who am I’ was more of a journey of enlightenment for us.”
Producer Shirish Prakash speaks about the message this film conveys and what prompted him to back the film. He says,”We have a lot of questions in our heads, especially – Who Am I? What Am I? Why do we exist? This film seeks to address all of the questions by showing how the main character Bhavitva goes on a journey of self-discovery and realizes his answers. The story will leave the audience with a new perspective on life. I come across a lot of scripts every day but when Shireesh proposed the script for “Who Am I”, the story spoke to me on a personal level and I realized that this is what I want everyone to see. And the film responds to this question in such a beautiful way that it will leave you all astonished.”
