‘The child inside us is what makes us alive and life more beautiful’

“We might have relatively more freedom and agency now, as compared to childhood. But simultaneously, there is an increasing amount of stress that we are learning to cope with,” announces Eshu Chaudhary, a post graduate diploma student of television and radio journalism at the Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication (AIMC). She is among the eight students from her class, whose group is called The Worthy Minds, who decided to reminisce about the innocence of childhood through a short video, released on the occasion of Children’s Day this year.

The video, featuring the same eight students, is a throwback to fun-filled, carefree childhood days, while showing how life takes a turn as one transitions into adulthood. Shantanu Oberoi, who led the project, shares, “We were just brainstorming and that’s how we thought of doing this video for Children’s Day.”

In the background is a poem recited and penned by Anushka Vats, who says, “Our lives were so sorted as children and that is what inspired the poem in a way. Now that we have grown up, there are so many things that we miss about childhood. I wanted to highlight that through my poem.”

The video was shot in just one day. “When we shot the video for the first time, there were some glitches. So, we made all the necessary changes and prepared the final version on the same day. It involved a lot of props, costumes, and so on,” says Rittick Mandal, another member of the group.

Everyone put in a lot of hard work, agrees the team. Adds Anushka, “To do everything in such short time was a big challenge for all of us. It has just been our first 15 days at the campus, and we are still in the initial phases of learning. However, in the video, we tried to incorporate everything we learned till now. The experience was very good.”

The students believe that while growing up is exciting, there is a lot about childhood that they miss. “Gone are the days when you had the freedom to do anything at any time. Now, we are all bound by a strict schedule. We also have a lot of responsibilities now,” rues team member Shraddha Tiwari.

Adds Bhavna Sindhwani, “Staying away from home and away from parents is also a part of adulting today. I miss them a lot.”

Talking about the video, Professor Naveen Gautam, who helped The Worthy Minds team throughout the process, says, “The motive of the video is to let people know that how important is to balance happiness and growth, all at once. We believe that the kid inside us is what makes us alive and life more beautiful.”

The group’s heartwarming ode to childhood was well-received. “The response was great. Our professors, including Naveen Sir appreciated it. Our friends also congratulated us, many said that the video was quite relatable,” Mansi Rai tells us.

“Our video also got multiple shares and re-shares on social media,” adds Tiwari.

“This short film is a small effort of our students, who have joined physical classes just two weeks ago. The only way to learn filmmaking is to make films. At the Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication, we believe in learning by doing.”

-Naveen Gautam, Assistant Professor, AIMC