Director Jitendra Rai reveals 'Baitullah' was born from short film 'Cup of Tea'

Mumbai, Nov 18

Jitendra Rai, director of the dramatic short film, 'Baitullah', shared that he got an idea about his latest short while shooting for the previous one titled 'Cup of Tea'.

In fact, 'Baitullah' is a good example of active give and take between a storyteller and the audience.

Elaborating on the same, Rai stated: "Basically, I made a short film 'Cup of Tea' before this on the importance of education for children which got viral. When I read comments of audiences on that film, I realized that I should have made a film on child labour first.

"So, you can say that the idea of making 'Baitullah' was born from the short film 'Cup of Tea'. I couldn't ignore the child labour which I had seen while making 'Cup of Tea' which left me with the sense of helplessness. Hence, I decided to bring this up to the society as a filmmaker through my short film 'Baitullah'," he added.

Directed and written by Rai, the short film revolves around child labour where the protagonist is played by child artist Om Kanojiya. Apart from him, Ishtiyak Khan and Vipin Sharma are also part of the film.

Kanojiya, who has been seen in 'Mere Pyare Prime Minister', 'Marjaavaan', 'Commando 3' feels elated to be a part of this film and said: "It was a great learning experience for me working with Ishtiyak sir, Vipin sir and Jitendra sir. Also, it was very challenging for us to shoot in a crowded Mohammed Ali road but the local people really supported us. And then shooting in mosque during 'azaan' time was another challenge due to time constraint and I had to deliver the best shot. Hence, I was quite nervous during that shot."

Lastly, Khan added: "This film should reach the rural audience where people are naive and deprived of this in order to create awareness on child labour. When you like the subject of the film, then the working experience becomes amazing and the passion flows in making the film."