Over a cup of tea

Lovkesh Kumar

“I  love to work with the kids. I have learnt a lot from children while working with Amole Gupte in projects like Stanley Ka Dabba and Hawa Hawai. That’s why I have made up my mind to do my first feature film about kids. Our script is almost ready and very soon we will go on the floors,” says Jitendra Rai, director-writer- producer of a short film Cup of Tea, which got 82 million viewers under the banner of Matheno Films.

Cup of Tea received the Best Educational Short Film Award at the Rishikesh International Film Festival, and Best Jury Award at the Italy Film Festival. 

The idea came from his personal experience. Rai explains, “I belong to a farmers’ family from Bihar where education do not come easy. We have to walk far to attend school or college. I brought that lingering childhood image into reality.”

On Father’s Day he made another short film Beardo the Portrait as a tribute to his father.  The story captured the generation gap despite the fact that a father’s heart would always beat for his son. 

Rai considers Amole Gupte his guru. “In Nanhi Neend I worked with Vijay Malwade and shared screen space with Makrand Deshpande,” he says.

A voracious reader, Rai loves reading books by Amrita Pritam and Osho.