_ To Mother, with Love Thanks Maa makes heroes out of Mumbai's street children DEBESH BANERJEE HIS is a film about street children beating the odds —no, we're not talking about Shandog Millionaire. This time, it isa feature film called Thanks Maa by Mumbai-based debutant filmmaker Irfan Kamal that has bagged two nomi- nations at the Edinburgh Film Festival in the best New International Feature Award and the Skillset New Directors Award categories. The two-hour-long film which releases in India in July, is based ona group of Mumbai’s street children who adopt an abandoned two-day-old baby and set out on ina mission to find her mother. “Itis for all those mothers who did not abandon their babies and raised them despite all pressures. My mother is one of them,” says the 36-year-old director. Kamal’s father was a choreographer who made the likes of Amitabh Bachchan dance to his tune in.4mar Akbar Anthony and Coolie and gave Mithun Chakraborty his gyrating moves in Disco Dancer. Ka- mal himself dabbled with small roles before co-pro- ducing his first English feature Lady Godiva Backin the Saddle, a comical adaptation of the story of Lady Godiva (yet to be released in India) in 2006, under his own production house, Quantum Films. He stumbled on the subject of Thanks Maa during daily commutes from his home in Andheri to his pro- duction house in Juhu. “The streets were dotted with kids begging. I asked myselfwhat would happenifa bunch of these kids found an abandoned baby and went out in search ofits mother,” he says. Kamal auditioned 300 street children for the role: The protagonists are five street kids with quirky names like Municipality, Cutting, Sursuri and Soda. Ranveer Shorey, Barry John and Alok Nath also play active | roles. The filmwas shot in congested locations in | Mumbaiin a span of six months. “I wrapped up the fi- nalscenes in March 2008,” says Kamal. The film is an entertainer, though without any song and dance routines, sailing through on its situational humour and street lingo that includes.a generous sprin- kling of swear words. “Tt is A- certified but I am glad that the censor board allowed the expletives as these are the essence of my film,” adds Ka- mal, who has been offered a few acting roles, but plans to stick to directing for now. “I want to provemyself as a di- rector first,” he says. BACK STREET: Still from the film; (top) Kamal