Vijayapura: Since the announcement that his short film ‘Samman’ (Respect) won big at the National Awards for Short-films, Shiva Biradar, a filmmaker of the city is on cloud-nine. The Union Government had announced the names of the winners on August 21, in which Biradar’s short film was selected from Karnataka.

“A total of four films got selected from India for the award, I am the only person whose film got selected from Karnataka. It is the matter of great pride and elation for me and my film crew”, Biradar said. He said that the short-film competition on the title ‘Patriotism and Marching toward Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) was organized by the National Film Development Corporation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving a call for ‘Self-reliant India’ to boost local products.

Biradar, who has completed his BE in Electronics, was, however, always attracted to films and videography. Having developed a craze for the camera since childhood, it was only after his graduation that he got himself completely involved with his passion. “I have several classmates who are in films and directors. I joined them and started learning about film making. Now, I am directing short films and video editing”, Biradar said.

Talking about the film, he said that, through his friends, he came to know about the government organizing competition on the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ concept. “Since I personally believe in the concept of using local products than foreign goods, the idea immediately clicked with me. So, with the help of friends, I decided to work on the concept”, Biradar said. The three minute long film, primarily focuses on patriotism and using local products.

In the film, Biradar himself played the role of a father who is fond of only foreign products, who finally realizes the importance and value of Indian products. “The daughter teaches his father and other customers of the mall by telling that they should not use A for Apple and B for Ball to teach alphabets to children, instead take names of an Indian freedom fighter in alphabetical order”, Biradar said.

He said that this particular concept was adopted in the film to evoke a sense of patriotism.

Having spent around 20 days in making the entire film and after having it edited at a studio in Mumbai, the film was sent to Delhi for selection. “A total of four films were selected for the award including mine. We are waiting for the government to call us for the distribution of the award. Maybe because of the COVID pandemic, the government is delaying the date”, he said.

Biradar said that according to his information, all winners would be given a year-long contract by the government to work on a particular project.

Meanwhile, Vijayapura District Administration has also appealed to the people to watch the video and encourage the local artist.