From India with collaboration on his mind
The Kashmir region which borders India and Pakistan is a world away from Accra. Students of the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) were, however, literally transported there recently when Indian actor and film director, Mr Manish Ghandi, showed them a short film shot in that area.
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Mr Ghandi, who also lives in England, was in Ghana to explore ways of combining the cultural values of India and Ghana through the arts.
To get himself soaked well enough in Ghanaian cultural issues, he interacted with pupils of the St Nicholas School in Tema Manhean as well as with students of NAFTI and the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana.
He also met playwright and theatre director, Uncle Ebo Whyte, and his Roverman Productions team.
At NAFTI, Mr Ghandi showed the students a film he acted in called Rizwan. It was about a 17-year-old guy shot by the police near the India-Paskistan border.
“Most of the students were familiar with Bollywood stuff so what I brought gave them a bird’s eye view of other approaches to filmmaking in India,” Mr Ghandi, said who also stated that he learnt a lot about the film business in Ghana through the NAFTI students.
During the interactive session, Manish urged the upcoming actors, film directors and producers to make known their African culture to the world through their movies.
With support from Ivan Quashigah’s Farmhouse Productions, Mr Ghandi also staged Brown Shakespeare, a play of compiled Shakespeare stories at the School of Performing Arts, Legon.
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“There is no culture of Shakespeare in Ghana and India but there is one in England. So with Brown Shakespeare, what I tried to do was to unlock the text using Indian and Ghanaian motifs,” Mr Ghandi explained.
After meeting Uncle Ebo Whyte and his production team, Mr Ghandi was highly impressed with their sense of professionalism. He was convinced it would be worthwhile working out a theatrical collaboration with them.
Ghandi had some time to embark on a project with pupils of the St. Nicholas school in Tema Manhean. He trained pupils in acting and also took the teachers through techniques of using drama to enhance education.
Expressing optimism about a future collaboration with artistic entities in Ghana, he said there was a lot of room to explore in that arena. He hoped resources would be available at some point so that Indian and Ghanaian cultures could fertilise each other’s growth through the arts.