Filmmaker Statement

Alaav is a well-researched anti-smoking film that was created with the intent to help curb teenage smoking habits, inspired by my own experiences and the love I have for my nieces and nephews who were on the cusp of their teenage years. Drawing inspiration from the animated short educational film ‘Ek Anek aur Ekta' directed by Vijaya Muley and released by Doordarshan in 1974, Alaav aspires to have a similar impact on tobacco-awareness that the song ‘Ek chidia anek chidia’ had on viewers at the time, that was based on ‘Unity in diversity’. The soundtrack has vocals by Jaaved Jaffrey in his inimitable bad-guy style reminiscent of his character Jaffer in the film Aladdin, bringing the ‘rakshasaas’ to life, describing how smoking tobacco deteriorates the body over time. As stop-motion animation films go, this film has been extremely rewarding to work on, with the level of detail that has gone into making it worth the multiple rounds of edits and polishing. I am very proud of all the pai