Malaysian movie producer competes in Navi Mumbai International Film Festival

| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 16 Aug 2016 | Asia Samachar |

Holding Back, a short-film produced by Malaysia-based Sheila Sandhu, has won a number of awards, the latest being the ‘Goa Talkies Presents International Short Film Carnival 2016’ in June.

Now, the film about a cancer patient fighting a dying battle will be competing in the 3rd Navi Mumbai International Film Festival NMIFF-2016.

The movie, directed by Wilson Louis, is true story about Shiv, a cancer patient, fighting a dying battle.

A train journey, totally changes his mother, who was emotionally so weak and soft for sentiments and who would easily burst into tears, into a strong mother. She holds back her tears in doing the last responsibilities for her son, as she stops herself from crying or falling into any emotional bait.

Why the plot? “I lost a dear friend to cancer,” she tells Asia Samachar, an online news portal for Sikhs in Southeast Asia.

The film had earlier won laurels at ‘California Shorts’ and ‘Nasik Film Festival’. It won three more awards at the ‘Goa Talkies Presents International Short Film Carnival 2016’.

The films stars Seema Biswas and Anant Mahadevan. It also features Gutur Gu actor Kunal Kumar and Aditya Lakhia.

The Kaalo and horror serial maker Wilson Louis, too had lost a dear friend back in 1999 in tragic circumstances (in a train) to cancer as the film shows, according to one media report. He stated, “I had promised myself that I will make a film on him. I am thankful to Sheila ji for having given me this chance.”

The Navi Mumbai film festival is open to all film makers of short and feature length films, from across the globe, and appreciates all genres of film making.

It describes itself as a competitive festival of films where the best films will be shortlisted under various categories. The winners are selected by a panel of esteemed jury members and awarded with cash prizes and trophies.

Asia Samachar spoke to Sheila. Here’s our question and answer session:

How did you get involve in film making?
Been involved in the industry for some time. Event, line production and so forth

Tell us a little about yourself?
I am 52, happily married to civil engineer Kawaljeet Singh. Our daughter is 12 and we live in Puchong (Selangor, Malaysia).

What prompted you to be involved in Holding Back?
I was narrated the script on the net by an old director friend from Mumbai. It’s a true story of how a mother loses her son to cancer and he passes away on the train while traveling for his friends marriage. A journey most painful for the mother, a journey from Bangalore to Chenai. I was touched. To top it of I lost a dear friend to cancer.

How do you feel with this accomplishment?
I feel totally great and it’s motivated me to do more short films with social messages.

What’s next?
My next will start shooting most likely in December 2016. I’m sorry I can’t reveal the plot as yet but I promise you that the masses will love it.

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