The First Film, a short by Piyush Thakur, is an interesting take on love for cinema

The seed was planted in 2012 at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in France, where my FTII student’s short film, The Real Millionaire was screening. I noticed an elderly French couple in their late eighties, the wife in a wheelchair, her husband lovingly accompanying her so she could watch short films in the theatre. Their excitement and chemistry amazed me. It made me realise that love for cinema is not bound by age, gender, or language. That moment stayed with me, and I began wondering: how far would a cinephile go to watch a special film? When I returned to India, I began developing the idea with my childhood friend and co-writer, Deepak Lohana. Over the years, the story changed a lot, but the heart of it, the magic of watching a film in a theatre, remained constant.

Since the film is set in the 1960s, Deepak and I immersed ourselves in that period. We spent months watching Bollywood films released between 1950 and 1960—not as filmmakers, but as audiences. We wanted to understand how people in our country back then might have watched and experienced cinema. This exercise gave us insights into the mood, behaviour, and even the little mannerisms of that era’s cinephiles. We also drew from personal memories.

My grandparents often spoke about how going to the theatre was a big event, sometimes involving long journeys. Their stories gave me the texture of how magical yet restrictive that experience could be, especially for women. Deepak, too, had a close bond with his grandmother, and in fact, the protagonist’s name, Devi, comes from her.

The story itself went through many versions—at least 15 completely dif ferent drafts with very different plots but the same essence. At one point, it was about an older couple, at another stage about siblings, before we finally settled on the 14-year-old girl’s perspective. The first draft was written in February 2012, and the final draft was completed in December 2018.

Making an independent film is never easy. Without big budgets or stars, every decision carries more weight—from raising funds to working with limited resources on set. With The First Film, we were shooting a period story on a small budget, which is almost contradictory. We had to think creatively— avoiding modern elements, relying on authentic locations, and working with first-time actors. We even had to battle extreme weather, including a cyclone, during crucial days.

But that’s also the beauty of independent cinema. Limitations force you to be inventive and honest. At the same time, I don’t believe a film becomes important just because it’s independently made. Whether it’s a studio film or an indie, the narrative has to be honest, and the audience is always sharp enough to sense that. That’s why we can connect equally to an indie like Ship of Theseus or a blockbuster like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

The First Film is still continuing its festival run, premiering in a new country almost every week. We’re exploring a few ideas, both short and feature-length. One project very close to my heart is an IndoJapanese feature film called Your Big Indian Sumo. I wrote it back in 2017, inspired by my love for Japan, and it was later shortlisted at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. It’s a coming-of-age story set in a very different world from The First Film. At the time when we finally managed to crack the script for The First Film, I decided to put Sumo on hold and focus all my energy there. Now, I might revisit it, or perhaps even take a leap into something entirely new.