Place: Rainbow Children’s Home Patna, Bihar, India

Name of the film: Bachpan

Rainbow Children’s Home Patna is a part of the nationwide Rainbow Homes program. The program promises to embrace, educate and enable children who are victims of abuse, addiction and poverty. The Patna division rescues children all over the state of Bihar. The rainbow homes Patna is mentored by Mr Saket Priyadarshi and Mrs Vishaka Priyadarshan. Rainbow children’s home (Patna) has rescued over sixty children from all over Bihar. The kids on the present day, are living a new life with every existential support from The Rainbow home. Saket and Vishaka promise to give the children the family they need. I witnessed that Rainbow homes provide the children not as charity but as their entitlement.

The Little Directors program was initiated in Bihar. My objective was to guide the kids of Rainbow homes (Patna) in taking their first steps towards the Reel life. I was awestruck by the eagerness and motivation of the kids on the very first day. Every child had a story to portray on the big screen. Each kid in the classroom of Rainbow homes had experienced life more than I ever thought at the age of thirteen. It took them just a day to get in tune with the structure of a production unit. I always have a plan B, but the kids never gave me a reason to opt for it.  On the shooting days I realized how coordinated the kids were. They worked like absolute professionals, it never felt like they were making a film for the very first time. They excelled in every field possible. I thought I had a lot to do, but when it came to production I could only observe and appreciate.

Bachpan is a Docufiction revolving around the issue of child marriage. The film opens to show the daily life of a girl studying in secondary school. We see a patriarchal father oppressing the life of his daughter. The plot turns when the father gambles his daughter to support his habits. The climax thrills as the tables turn for the first time in the child’s life.

Rainbow homes in Patna will always have very special place in my heart. The children were eager to learn and they knew that they had nothing to lose. My experience was eye-opening. The children had so much energy that I had to catch up with them as the cameras rolled. This was the first time I was working with a crew which had 50 children below the age of 15 years. The production in Bihar has equipped me to handle a crew with zero experience. It has instilled a lot of patience in my approach towards life and film.