By Moses Nosike

Abhinit Puri is an Indian national living in Nigeria who has found passion and fulfillment in film and movie productions. He is an actor, director, writer, editor and producer and has produced 13 short films which many of them have been recognized internationally. Some of his movies have won several awards in the International Film Festivals. He recently produced a 52-minutes movie titled, “MAIN BHI HU NAA”, which was launched last weekend at Silverbird Cinema where he explained the meaning and message behind the movie.

According to him, “the movie is about Indians living in Nigeria. The main character can see ghosts and always talks to his ghost sister. He is a fan of Shahrukh Khan (a Bollywood superstar) who aspires to live a lifestyle similar to his. He has always wanted to marry a girl named Simran. He falls in love with Simran, and many twists and turns follow. The movie also addresses the issue of levy that causes many Indians to lose their jobs in Nigeria. It blends various emotions such as love, fun, suspense, horror, and sadness”.

When asked what motivated him to launch the movie, Abhinit Puri said, “I didn’t intentionally plan for the movie to be 52 minutes long, but that’s how it turned out to be. The motivation behind it was the unique story and its message”.

On what category of people MAIN BHI HU NAA is to serve, he said, “I always keep in mind that my audience should be able to watch my movies with their families because my movies do not contain abusive language or vulgarity. The stories are intended for all categories”.

However, while speaking on the cross-cultural benefit of the movie for Nigeria and India, Puri said, “this movie is for everyone. I shot the movie in Nigeria and there’s a deep message: whether you are Indian or Nigerian, you shouldn’t lose hope and always try to work on your identity. Whatever challenges life gives you, just accept and face them”.

Puri revealed that the current movie was his 13th, and all his movies were shot in Nigeria. “In my previous movies, I depicted Nigeria as India. This is the first time I have shown the real Nigeria in my movie”, he said. Following his passion in the production of films and movies, Puri said that he has plans to produce more movies and nothing would stop him.

Talking about the challenges he encountered while producing the movie and how he was able to overcome it, Puri said, “In every movie, I encounter many challenges. For instance, I often wake up in the middle of the night to export movie files properly. Editing the movie is the biggest challenge. I want to present an A-grade product to my audience, so working with limited equipment and without a technical team is very challenging. Personally, I believe problems come to those who have the power to resolve them, so I make sure I do my best to overcome them”.

On how Puri funds his films and movies, he said, “my YouTube channel is monetized, so I earn some income from YouTube and sometimes from sponsors. Additionally, my movies are available on other Indian OTT platforms as well as UK & US also.