Little Thomas marks Anurag Kashyap’s return to children’s film

A globally celebrated filmmaker, Anurag Kashyap, whose known for Gangs of Wasseypur and others is ready with his next feature Little Thomas. The film stars Gulshan Devaiah and Rasika Duggal, who are among the country’s best actors, alongside child artist Hridansh Parekh in this delightful comedy drama.

Little Thomas marks Anurag Kashyap’s return to children’s film genre after 17 years; Gulshan Devaiah-Rasika Duggal starrer heads to Indian Film Festival of Melbourne for world premiere

“Yes a long time actually. Maybe I was waiting for a good children’s film script to come my way,” he says on why he took so many years before coming back to this space post his animated directorial Return of Hanuman (2007). “It’s actually very hard genre, making an original kid’s movie so you have to make sure that it’s a good script first,” comments the filmmaker.

The world premiere of Little Thomas will be held at this year’s Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Apart from Kashyap, Ranjan Singh, Rajnikant Oza, Charu Oza, Anushka Shah and Kabir Ahuja are involved with it.

In Little Thomas Kashyap was impressed by the vision of Kaushal Oza who had won the National Award as Best Director but makes his debut direction in this feature about the tragi-comic efforts of a seven-year-old boy to bring his parents together and have a little brother.

According to Kashyap: “I had seen Kaushal short ‘The Miniaturist of Junagadh’ and liked it. Then I read the Little Thomas script and understood his vision for it. He wanted to make a genuine children’s film while creating a world from kids’ perspective. The honesty in which he has approached one another has helped make the film.”

Set in 90s Goa, Thomas, the only child of his parents, is desperate for a little brother. “One day he is told that to get a baby brother his parents will have to kiss. Since his quarrelling parents won’t kiss any longer Little Thomas takes it upon himself to make them do the yucky act!” states the film’s premise.

Actor Gulshan Devaiah who debuted in That Girl in Yellow Boots (year), which was directed by Anurag Kashyap and also worked with him on movies like Shaitan (2011) and Hunterrr (2015), terms Little Thomas as a film that “puts a smile on my face.”

“It’s a sweet, cute film and I am thrilled it’s going to be showing at IFFM. The most special thing about Little Thomas is its story and the beautiful innocence in its world. Rasika is an excellent actor whom I’ve admired for some time now. She’s very professional and dedicated to her work. I was lucky that I got to work with her,” according to Gulshan.

“Rasika Duggal actress says that Little Thomas” is a beautiful and lyrical story “about” the simple life of a Goan family. As an actor, I was attracted to the script of Little Thomas. Because, in my opinion, it was a beautiful and simple story and not simplistic at all.

Sometimes technology offers so much for us to play with in filmmaking that I feel like the soul of the film gets lost in all this razzmatazz. That wasn’t happening with little Thomas. It stuck strictly to its narrative without any unnecessary frills.

In addition, “there was an interesting sense of humor in the script which I thoroughly enjoyed having to do with the film’s director himself and his comedic touch on this project. It premieres at IFFM as well as being watched by an audience that is generally associated with such festivals – which means one thing; their discerning audiences who also love some fun times! Let’s see how they react to our film.”

“The team auditioned over 700 kids to find Thomas and the gang,” explains Director Kaushal Oza, an alumnus of Film & Television Institute of India.

The filmmaker adds: “Everyone has been a seven-year-old once in their lives,” Children are too innocent to be tainted by adult values because they are completely unspoiled by them. And then we grow up missing those times when we were kids because we miss innocence and imagination that came from our minds only but now needed once again. But everyone loved reading it but making such films is never easy. They laughed, they cried when these set of producers read it, who pledged full support.

Luminoso Pictures along with Civic Studios, Flip Films as well as Good Bad Films has produced ‘Little Thomas.’

In 2018 Ranjan Singh (Flip Films) read ‘Little Thomas’ script for the first time and decided to produce it too. “It seemed like an authentic children’s film which I have missed over so many years. Also, in my opinion, I had co-produced Kaushal’s short, The Miniaturist of Junagadh and also showed it to Anurag among other producers so it really helped when I took ‘Little Thomas’ script to them.”

Anushka Shah is the producer at Civic Studios. She claims that Little Thomas is a “refreshingly delightful story.” She says that “Thomas with his boundless imagination, curiosity and resilience can shape young minds positively – this is why we (at Civic Studios) decided to back this film. It will be a heartwarming family watch for children as well as adults who will enjoy every second of Little Thomas and they should definitely bring their families along.”

The film also stars Hridyansh Gokani, Ninad Pandith and Mahabanoo Mody- Kotwal and will run through festivals before its theatrical release in the country.