There cannot be a bigger tribute to Piyush Mishra than his short Kathakaar, conceptualised by Whistling Woods international, helmed by the legendary Subhash Ghai. While the movie is successful in bringing out the man of many parts that Piyush is, it leaves us with an undying thirst of more and more.
As a lay man who is trying to soak in the movies as a student of Media Arts, there was that wish that Piyush be given a longer timeframe to cast a spell. Having said this, from the technical perspective, the actor does justice to his role.
Prakash Dada played by Piyush Mishra in the film epitomizes the story of how cinema viewing has changed over past few years. With the advent of multiplex culture, it is men like Prakash who are asked to make way for a younger team who then are trained up in technical know how to ride the multiplex wave.
In such circumstances, the man who is used to the projector is either left to fend for himself, or some like Prakash work on hidden talents and make a comeback with a bang. Prakash is shown as a man who loses his job but refuses to be defeated and bogged down by pressures.
After succeeding in making a crying child, Gopal, laugh with his storytelling skills, he gathers up confidence and becomes a storyteller for the entire village, thereby rediscovering his passion.
Inspired by the current crop of film actors and those of the golden era, Prakash is a man with a fighting spirit who rises like a phoenix. On returning to his village the man living in oblivion now sees the star within taking centre stage. From belting out dialogues of Sunny Deol, Salman Khan, Sholay, Sanjay Dutt and not to forget legends like Kishore Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar; Shankar manages to weave stories using them.
He attracts young kids in his village by his acting skills showcased under a tree canopy. And slowly but surely he becomes the apple of the eye for all.
Actor Piyush Mishra is a well known scriptwriter, music director, lyricist and singer. After winning big, thanks to his stellar performance, the star said that he rejected a lot of scripts in the past but agreed to do the short film Kathakaar as he felt it had “an X factor”.
By his own account, Piyush wanted to challenge the boundaries in a 10 minute performance.
Directed by Abhimanyu Kanodia, the short film has been produced by Shraddha Singh and Naveed M.
Kanodia tells media he had from Day 1 wanted to rope in Mishra for the project for his versatility.
Kathakaar has been screened across popular film festivals around the world.
Besides the Academy nod, the film has so won 13 awards, including three international awards and has been officially selected at 30 film festivals across the globe.
Piyush Mishra is a thespian who cut his teeth in theatre and has worn multiple hats. He grew up in Gwalior, and went to graduate from National School of Drama, Delhi in 1986. He was well received for his acting in Maqbool and Gangs of Wasseypur.
As lyricist he has given hits like “Arre Ruk Ja Re Bandeh” for Black Friday, “Aarambh Hai Prachand” for Gulaal and “Ik Bagal” for Gangs Of Wasseypur.
Mishra made his debut as a film actor with Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se in 1998, he was portrayed as C.B.I Investigation Officer. From thereon he has been part of several memorable projects.
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