[Assam] State boy carves a niche in the arena of short films(The Assam Tribune, 27.07.2008)

[Buljit Buragohain]

 State boy carves a niche in the arena of short films
By Ajit Patowary
 GUWAHATI, July 26 – Refusing to be demoralised by the gloomy situation in their home State, Assam youths, infamous for their homesickness, have now been blooming and emerging as leaders in many spheres of activities in regions far away from their home turf.

Here is the example of such a youth who endured a chequered life to become a film producer and finally an organiser of the country’s biggest short film festival in end April this year at Ahmedabad.

The Times of India group has selected this 26- year-old youth as one of its top ten, ‘chosen on the basis of their offbeat professional pursuits.’ The profile of these youths was published in the Delhi edition of The Times of India on June 2 last.

He is Shiladitya Bora from the serene Upper Assam town of Jorhat. He founded a company – Fulmarxx – the lone company incubated by the Entrepreneurship Development Center (EDC), Mudra Institute of Communication (MICA), Ahmedabad. He is the sole owner and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Fulmarxx, which is also the first exclusive short film company of the country.

Shiladitya is a plastic engineer. He had done his BE from the LD College of Engineering, Ahmedabad. When he was doing his BE, he spent the first two years searching for movie-related information in the Internet and in books. 

After doing his BE, Shiladitya was selected by California State University, Los Angeles. Nevertheless, he had to return from Los Angeles being haunted by the fear of the ‘lack of a safety net. ‘ It was in 2005.

Then he joined Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai to pursue MBA. There he met Alankar Jain, a producer of the Zee Business channel. Shiladitya somehow convinced Jain to engage him as a cinematographer in one of his unit’s episodes. Subsequently, he applied for MICA and simultaneously started preparation for his first short film. It was a film in English –The Journey (27 min 30 seconds), based on pains and agony of the grown ups and their recognising the essence of life.

He completed the film on July 13, 2007 and MICA selected him the same day. There he conceived the Fulmarxx and together with his friends Ankur Singh, Pooja Ganeriwala, Abhishek Kadam, Jay Gotecha and Anand Parikh, he founded the company. Of the 26 business plans, MICA took Fulmarxx for incubation in October 2007.

Fulmarxx sees short films as a learning experience and launch pad for feature filmmaking and as an entertainment unit complete in itself, which is not limited to mere documentation, he said.

The company could secure a deal from the Gujarat Government to make a film for its Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. The deal gave it a good profit.

It gradually grew with its highest earning coming from short film distribution. But, shortage of such films made it go for the festival. The festival was held on April 26 and 27. Its participants came from 18 countries. In all, there were 189 entries in 16 languages. Of them, 63 were from foreign countries. 

The company could secure the sponsorship of Tina Ambani of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, besides the local sponsors to organize the festival. The festival will be an annual event, says Shiladitya.

Shiladitya, who is completing his MBA in November next, also informed that his group had launched another company – Fulmarxx Motion Pictures. It is starting its first feature film and its release is expected by next Spring.










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