Holding Back

Short Film Holding back a short film is based on a true incident in 1999, of Shiva, a young man suffering from blood cancer and who, unfortunately, passed away during the journey while traveling by train from Bangalore to Chennai, for a friend’s marriage. Shiva was traveling with his mom and elder cousin Suresh. This film deals with the mother’s emotional journey of her son’s death. The pivotal character- Mother, is played by the national award winner Seema Biswas, popularly known for her role in and as the Bandit Queen; while Father is played by national award-winning director-writer Ananth Mahadevan; Coolie is played by Aditya Lakhia (Kachra) of Lagaan fame; Cousin brother is played by Raj Arjun, main lead in Shabri and Kaalo, Shiva, the son is played by Kunal Kumar with supporting roles played by Marathi theatre and film veterans, Pradeep Patwardhan and Jaywanth Wadekar. Background score is to be given by Anurag Saikia, the national award winner for the music of Yugadrashta in 2014. The camerawork is done by Pushpank Gawade who won the best award for Cinematography for the film Kaalo in South Africa film festival 2012.