Watching the children around me, my daughter Aiman and her friends were growing up in a tower complex, going to school with kids from similar backgrounds, not really knowing a world outside their own so I wanted to write a story with these kids, for them, about them, instead of just saying, oh, it was different when we were kids. Also, long ago, I hired a little girl to look after Aiman when she was a baby at the FTII. I could not cope with the guilt for more than a few months. Maybe this is my way of repenting. Children specially these days, have lesser opportunity to mix with children from other worlds. The walls are higher. But I would like to believe that when they do cross those walls, it is not too difficult for them to understand, empathize or help.

Like all film-makers, I've been working on scripts, proposals for feature films. I gave my story Lilkee to CFSI, they liked it, and so, I've made a children's film. I think, the most important reason that I've made a children's film, and not a feature film, is - Funding! The money from CFSI is very little, and it is a bureaucratic set-up, but yes, you do have the freedom to tell your own story, in your own way.

The film was shot in 18 days, in Pune, Korlai and Garhwal. I still need to do patchwork for one more day. We tried synch sound for 2-3 days, but gave up because we did not have the infrastructure or the budget for it. In Pune, we were shooting in a very expensive apartment complex, where we had permission to shoot only from 9 to 6, and take in a unit of only 30 people. We've shot the exterior sequences in available light; the only schedule where we had even a track and trolley. In the interior, we could not even put up a painting on the wall, leave alone lights, or take in a track-trolley, so we've worked around that.

The only way that we've been able to pull off this shoot with 5 children, a baby, some puppies plus some very physically taxing locations, is through extensive rehearsals. Children, adults, even the kids in the apartment complex, who worked as ‘extras’ for the football match, birthday party and letter-writing song, all rehearsed over a month. Apart from the children, I chose to work with an adult cast who would give me a lot of rehearsal time, who would support me in what I was doing, who would not be on their cell phones all the time, and all that for very little money. In fact, two of my actors also doubled up as my assistants, working with rehearsals, continuity and costumes. The children are all non-actors, and were thrilled to put in as much time as I asked for. An added advantage of rehearsals was the fine-tuning of script and dialogues, until we were ready to roll. As for my crew, they are all FTII colleagues, whose work I like and whom I am comfortable working with.

The important thing was, the children had loads of fun, shooting. Of course, tempers were shaky at times, there were tears, but no tantrums and all of them fussed endlessly about how they were looking. The worst thing I did was give one of the girls, Sani, lollipops to suck all through the film. That made all the other kids jealous and led to a lot of fights and demands. While in Pune, it was difficult to fulfill the demands because those lollipops were not available there. I tried to make it up by giving all of them lollipops in the beach song at Korlai. The combination of two strenuous days of climbing up and down the fort and rocks in the sun, swimming in the sea, and sucking those giant lollipops all the way home, led to all of them being sick for the next couple of days!

At Korlai beach, a local goon chose ‘magic hour’ to stop our shoot. He was getting violent and threatening. But the kids were unfazed. Aiman said, "Come on, come on, take, we are ready." We rolled the camera, and the kids gave the perfect take, while my brother, Ali distracted the goon. That's a moment we are all proud of. The kids understood our pressures most times, and this time, they overdid themselves.

Shooting in Garhwal was idyllic of course - good food, beautiful locations, good weather, a small crew, so very low-stress. But it also brought a dark moment for me. For a few shots, we wanted to shoot at Kartikeyaswami temple which is a two hour climb. I went for the recce, and hurt my back in a fall. For the next couple of days, I kept trying to find a justification for not shooting there at all. Ultimately, Vivek persuaded me to let him go with the crew, Aiman and some village people and shoot without me, one late afternoon. I sat alone in a car in the village below the temple, feeling ashamed and very sorry for myself. As evening fell, and the village became pitch dark, I remembered Zanussi telling us at a FTII workshop how directors' approach to shot-taking changes with time, and age. When I saw the torch lights of the crew coming down the hill, I ran to welcome them, happy that those two hours of darkness and aloneness were over.

I am particularly happy with how we've been able to use the Garhwal footage, which were all montage shots, to enhance the film both emotionally and visually. It was more than had been planned in the script. We had two shots with in-camera multiple exposure, which have also come out very clean, thanks to Nair Saab. There is an enormous relief that nothing has gone drastically wrong. The children too performed well, and brought their own energy to a script which is essentially, very simple.

Of course, I wish we had more money, more time, more resources, more man power. I also wish we had shot the film chronologically, as it would have helped Aiman a lot with her characterization. The poor kid was groping in the dark, trying to imagine what it was like to be Lilkee. But she watched the Chinese film, Not One Less a few days before the shoot, which helped her a bit.

I'm still not sure what happens to a CFSI film, in the ever after. I think I've got to push it as the film maker, with CFSI cheering me on, if something good comes out of it. So, I'll do the rounds, and cross my fingers that someone somewhere sees fit to release it. I've tried to make a film that kids will enjoy, even though it's not fantasy or adventure, or high voltage drama. Let's hope distributors agree with my opinion.