(Top, from left) Cinematographer Manoj Kumar Khatoi, Manoj Bajpayee and Soumendra Padhi; Padhi
HE was in Mumbai when he read that Biranchi Das had been murdered. The name rang a bell but Soumendra Padhi couldn’t immediately place it. With a little help from the internet, Padhi realised that the murder victim had been the controversial coach of Budhia Singh, the world’s youngest marathon runner who had shot to fame at the age of five. This prompted Padhi to research the 2008 incident. He felt the story of the murder had the potential of being made into a film. Eight years later, his hunch has proved accurate. Padhi’s directorial debut feature, titled Duronto, has won the National Award in the Best Children’s Film category.
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The film isn’t based on Das and his murder, as Padhi had planned, but tells Singh’s story from the point of view of the coach. “Budhia was a child prodigy whom Biranchi Das discovered. Today, Budhia doesn’t quite remember the events of the time since he was all of five then. Therefore, it felt right to use the coach in order to tell the story,” says Padhi, who is from Odisha and studied engineering in Bhubhaneswar.
The initial research alone took more than a year as Padhi was working with an ad production house. Although his first draft was ready in 2010, it took him three more years to find a financier. The director, who has been living in Mumbai since 2007, began shooting in 2014 and wrapped it up last year. Duronto is currently in post-production stage and the filmmaker hopes to release it this year.
Duronto has Manoj Bajpayee playing Das while Master Mayur essays the role of Singh. The latter, points out Padhi, bears a stark resemblance with the character he portrays. That is not why Mayur, from Pune, was cast in the role, clarifies the 40-year-old director. “Since Budhia was a marathoner, we needed to take long shots of the character as he runs. A regular child running long distances would easily get tired so we were searching for a child who was a good runner. Mayur not only fit the criterion but also came from a background similar to Budhia’s,” says Padhi. Both come from slums and lost their fathers early.
While Padhi adds that the background also makes such boys tougher to work with. “Mayur is a survivor but also stubborn unless dealt with in the right way, especially since he is a child. The contrast between the attention he would receive on the set and the lack of it at home made it difficult for Mayur to deal with things. We also had to explain to him that, once the camera is on, he is Budhia, not Mayur. Earlier, each time Manoj as Biranchi would slap him, he would begin to cry thinking he was being punished,” says Padhi.
Duronto, which means restless in Bengali, isn’t about the boy alone but also highlights the politics of the sport. “The politics of marathon as a sport has always been very different worldwide. They won’t allow anyone under 18 years of age to run in the adult category but people above 100 years are allowed,” says Padhi, adding that, in Singh’s case, the fact that he was five led to the Child Welfare Committee stepping in. Singh, who famously ran from Puri to Bhubaneswar without a stop, was banned from running till he came of age. “Today, at 14, he runs moderately but has no coach because, after a fallout between Biranchi Das and Budhia’s family, his mother doesn’t trust anyone. Will he run when he turns 18? Will he want to run at all? That only time will tell,” says Padhi.
