At the buzzing-with-activity sets, one encounters seasoned actors like Dr. Mohan Agashe, Anju Mahendru and Sachin Khedekar discussing their shots. The otherwise somnambulent premises of the FTII have awoken to some belated film activity, as technicians, assistants and artistes busy themselves with arranging the props and lights. Shooting goes on at a light and brisk pace, in an atmosphere of camaraderie.

The fate of Studio 2, a large and spacious but neglected building, where the FTII students normally make their documentary films, has changed after having been cleaned up and thrown open for a full-fledged feature film - A Pocketful of Dreams. A major part of the film will be shot in Pune, with schedules in New York as well later this month.

Kuldeep Singh Kasuri, a New York-based lawyer, who chiefly handles immigration cases, was inspired by his many close encounters with illegal Indian immigrants to produce a film on the subject. Along with first-time director Vishal Bhandari, they evolved a powerful and hard-hitting script.

The film traces the difficult path of an Indian family to New York, where they are compelled to live in a cramped basement apartment. The apartment was reconstructed in detail at the FTII by art director Mahesh Tawre, complete with a small kitchen overlooking a small living-room-cum-bedroom, a bathroom and garret windows. A part of the film was also shot at a bungalow on Prabhat Road.

The low-budget film has benefitted from its choice of locale, since recreating the apartment in Pune proved to be more economical than shooting in New York itself. And the choice was made quite by accident. The film-makers were considering Agashe, director, FTII, to play the pivotal character, and when on campus, saw that the seldom-used studio was ideal for them.

With his new crew cut, Agashe plays a retired colonel smitten by the American dream, which eventually gets shattered. ``The film has an interesting story dealing with a very contemporary problem. So many Indians migrate to America in search of a wonderful life, only to face another set of problems,'' he says.

Every Indian goes to America with a `pocketful of dreams.' However, more often than not, reality turns out to a far cry from the El Dorado of one's imagination. The film will show the situation like it is, without any sugar-coating. It is being made for international viewing, to be released sometime later this year.

``The plight of Indians in America is like a woman married to one man but in love with another man,'' says Bhandari succinctly. However, he avers that the confused loyalties are a result of misconceptions harboured by the Indians themselves, not because of some fault in the American system. ``We must blame ourselves for our problems,'' he says.

``A lot of people discouraged us from shooting in Pune at first, because they felt there would be a lot of impediments, but we didn't see that as a problem,'' says the confident Bhandari. It posed no difficulty for the American technicians either - cinematographer Evan Seplow and sound recordist Nobuko Nakayama, who are here for the filming, are enjoying their Indian experience.

Well, the FTII will see a short burst of life while the shooting is on and this may inspire other film-makers to use the premises for their films in future.

Hi-tech art
And now techno art is here, courtesy Akshay and Sanjeevani Niphadkar, two city-based artists.

Although Akshay has learnt art at the Abhinav Kala Vidyalaya, his wife and he prefer to be labelled ``self-taught'' artists. The duo relies on experimentation to a great extent, which is evident from their latest offering, to be presented at the Balgandharva Kala Dalan from June 9 to 12, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The show is entitled `Digital Dreams,' where they present a repertoire of computer graphic paintings, which they have been working at since a few years. ``It is the first time somebody is putting up such a show in Pune,'' they claim.

The Niphadkars have digitally created modern abstract works, landscapes and figurative paintings for the exhibition, a great save-on compared to the time-consuming, hand-painted canvasses. ``Paintings in computer graphics cannot be compared to painting by hand, they are two separate media. However, on the computer, one gets to choose from a range of about 65 million shades,'' says Sanjeevani.

The duo first sketch the design which they then ``paint'' on the computer, employing the photoshop programme. The picture is then printed on paper or canvas to brilliant effect. ``No one was aware that a computer graphic painting could be printed on canvas, but we have experimented with it,'' they add. This show should be worth a look for the effects created digitally, consolidating a new form of art.