Despite passing out of prestigious colleges in Goa, many students have to face the problem of underemployment and even unemployment.
Highlighting this issue and how it can be resolved is a short film directed by Ram Adpaikar, titled, ‘This Book will change your life’, starring
real life hero Agostinho Fernandes from Ambelim- Quepem and Rajkishore Mhambrey.
Agostinho, a musician, is physically disabled and the sole bread winner of his family. He earns a living by giving music classes for
students all across Margao. The 27-minute film in Konkani with English subtitles revolves around how a physically disabled person can
become an entrepreneur and inspire youngsters to become entrepreneurs themselves. Amey Hegde, a corporate trainer and
motivational speaker, came across Agostinho at an award function organised by Trainer’s Association and was taken aback by his speech
that reflected his clarity of thought. This inspired Amey to take Agostinho’s story to a wider audience.
“It is a short film which encourages the viewers to do something in their lives. It’s about following your passion no matter what the world says. There are many who eye government jobs and in anticipation of that, sit at home saying there are no jobs. This film aims at encouraging them to discover their talent and do something in life. Amey Hegde approached me to make a documentary on Agostinho. He told me that he wanted to encourage the youth, especially HIV positive people, with the message that everyone in life has problems but we should overcome them and move ahead. I said let’s try something different and we came up with a docu-drama,”
says Ram Adpaikar, whose film, ‘In Search of Mother’, was screened at the International Film Festival of India in 2014.
Amey, Executive producer of the film,
had the challenge of organising the funds to
finance the film. “I approached people in Goa
who wanted to give something back to society
with this non profit film with a social cause. For
two years, I struggled before finally putting up
a message on my Whatsapp group asking for
funds. Unbelievably, in two hours I collected Rs
86,000. The film has 26 sponsors with people
who are doing regular jobs and earning a
monthly salary of Rs 20,000,” explains Amey.
Coming for non acting backgrounds, Agostinho
and Rajkishore had to undergo training before
working in this film. “We had to train Agostinho in
acting and rehearsals took one month. Rajkishore,
who works for a company at Verna, had to work
on certain skills required for the short film. Other
actors include Les Menezes, Netty, Saieesh Gandhi
and Agosinho’s brother in guest roles. The film
belongs to the comedy genre but is laced with
values and includes a two-minute song. Agostinho
himself has composed, written and sung the
songs,” says Ram.
The film will be screened shortly exclusively
for cast and crew and sponsors. “We are
planning a screenings next week besides
submitting it to competitions. It will be
screened for donors, cast and crew. However,
we are also looking at educational institutes
who would want to have the screening
organised as the film is meant for youngsters,
specifically students,” concludes Amey.
