After documentaries on dance, art, and heritage, Bengaluru-based filmmaker Vinod Rajendra changes tracks with a project for South Western Railway. Titled The First Journey, the recently-released safety awareness campaign began in January and is supported by the ICICI Foundation. “13 2D animated ads, three live-action short fiction films, and six educational/documentary shorts have been created,” says Vinod, who is known for documentaries Lepakshi and Change — which created Guinness World Records as most dubbed short documentary and most dubbed short fiction respectively for being dubbed in 11 languages
Vinod explains how his father and grandfather are retired employees of the Indian Railways and a few relatives are still working with the department. “I have always had a fondness for the Indian Railways. Growing up, my favourite evening spot after school was my hometown Hindupur’s railway station. I used to walk about the platform and watch trains passing by.” Which is why the subject remains close to his heart.
“The idea of the project is to make passengers aware of safe travel methods,” says Vinod, 31, whose animated films discuss subjects such as issues of boarding and alighting a moving train, carrying inflammables, and how to avoid level crossing accidents, among others.
The documentaries After Effects of Stone Pelting, Rolling In and Rolling Out, Points Man, Gate Man, and Safety Counsellor, tackle the perils of stone pelting, safety protocols to be followed, the safety of employees, etc. “We shot all the films at railway stations in and around KSR Bengaluru City Junction and Yelahanka Junction,” says Vinod, whose team primarily comprises freelancers. “For each of my projects, I prefer working with new talent as I could learn from them. For The First Journey, I had a team of around 25 people.”
He adds that since the attention span of people has reduced, the media content ranges from just 20 seconds to four minutes each. Soon, the films will be screened in theaters, at railway stations, on social media platforms, etc. “The films have also been translated into English, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil to reach a wider audience,” says Vinod, who is now working on pitches for an animated short on Krishna Devaraya and a live-action documentary on Bharatanatyam.
