Medical students of Chitradurga produce short film on drug abuse, addiction
The Hindu
Hassan
Making the best use of the resources available on the college campus, medical students of Basaveshwara Medical College and Hospital in Chitradurga have produced a short film Speedball, with a message against drug abuse. A team of students in the second year of MBBS produced the 30-minute film and completed it within three months. Harshavardhana D., a native of Bhadravati, and his classmates Nikhith N.A, Karthik Yadav joined hands to shoot the film.
The story is about a student from a rural background, who gets into a medical college. Within a couple of years in college, he develops bad habits in the company of a few classmates. As his health condition deteriorates, the college informs his parents. Later he is sent to the de-addiction centre. The protagonist later becomes a teaching faculty in a medical college and shares his experience with his students.
The students took up this film project in August this year and completed it with the first screening for their classmates on November 15. Interestingly, they shot the entire movie on a cell phone (Apple iPhone 12). “We chose drug abuse as the theme for the movie, as it is one of the burning issues among youths. Often we get to know about youths losing their health and future because of their addiction to drugs. We found it is the best topic to deal with as we are all students of medicine”, said Harshavardhana, the director of the film, who also played the lead role of a medical student in the film.
Nikhith N.A., who also played a prominent role in the film, handled the editing. “The entire process was a learning experience for us. We finished shooting within 15 days. The post-production work took a long time as we learnt every other aspect of filmmaking on our own. We are happy with the end product”, he said.
The film team has thanked the classmates, teaching faculty and the administration of the college for their support of the project. They shot the movie on the college campus, making use of infrastructure facilities at the hostel, classroom and hospital. “We are willing to screen the short film on the invitation to spread awareness of drug abuse among youth. Our objective is to stop youths from falling for drug abuse”, Harshavardhana added. The short film is available on Youtube. Within two days of its launch it received about 5,000 views.