By Casey Neill
Dandenong’s Faiz Sharif has made his mark on a locally filmed Bollywood-style movie.
He’s the editor and executive producer for WHO, which means ‘that’ in Hindi.
Endeavour Hills husband and wife and first-time filmmakers Deo and Kusum Narayan produced the story of a heartbroken girl who gets involved with a mentally-unstable man accused of murder.
Mr Sharif works as an editor for cooking shows including Everyday Gourmet and Good Chef, Bad Chef and Ms Narayan approached him for help.
“We fixed up the minor issues in the film, fixed up the issues in the script and re-shot 10 to 20 per cent of the film,” he said.
“Last week we finally managed to finish the film.”
Its release is pencilled in for January.
“We filmed quite a lot in Dandenong,” Mr Sharif said.
“The main reason why I took up the project was they are nice people and I like to hang out with them.
“It rubs off, the goodness.
“It comes across in the film.
“Anybody that’s approached them for work as actors and crew, they’ve taken them on board.”
He said the film had the drama, song and dance of Bollywood with an Aussie twist.
“Most of the actors are first-timers. This is their biggest break,” he said.
“What I appreciate about Deo is the fact that he did not go to film school.
“He just did a short course.
“As a first-time filmmaker, to complete a feature film is itself an achievement.
“Many people start.
“The hard work’s paid off.”
Mr Sharif moved to Australia from India in 2005 to work.
“I was working for two to three years but I always had this passion towards film and making films,” he said.
“To make it happen I used to go to work in the night and uni during the day.”
He studied at both Monash and Deakin, landed a casual role with a production company and is now a full-time editor.
With WOH finished, Mr Sharif will now return to his own film project, called The Fastest Indian.
“It’s a film about a group of Indians living in Melbourne. They take part in a go-carting race,” he said.
“It’s more like a documentary-style film but it’s fictional.”
Mr Narayan said his aim with WOH was to reflect the values of migrants and their journey in settling down in Australia and integrating with the broader community.
“I personally feel that the most challenging issue people throughout the world are facing is integration,” he said.
“If my films are able to make even a slightest dent in this problem, mine and my fellow colleagues’ time and money will have seen its worth.”
The Narayans will launch a CD featuring songs from the movie and screen a trailer for the film at Nazareth College in Noble Park North at 1pm on Sunday 6 November.
There’ll be entertainment from dance troupe Bollydazzlers and singers who voiced the soundtrack.
