It takes courage for a young person to take a plunge in film making, that too in a serious subject like “Drug Abuse”. However, courage is something that is in abundance with Assamese filmmaker Naba Kumar Das along with some gritty determination and the confidence to live his dreams. This urge to live his dream may have prompted Naba to risk everything in the short film “Spotless”.Born to late Uttam Ch Das of Ulubari, Guwahati, Naba has been working in Bahrain since 2010. However, he has always been dreaming of making a film on some serious social issues of the society. Some soul searching and analysis of his own growing up days made Naba select the issue of drug addicts in the society and he along with director Vikramjeet Kashyap conceptualized and eventually made this impressive short film - Spotless.
The story of spotless revolves around Nava, a differently-abled boy who lost his mother at very young age. His struggle with the physical disability was compounded by an unsympathetic step mother and a weak father who loved him but could not show his emotions. Nava tried to get solace in his guitar. As he grew up, his search for mental peace and tranquility lead him to drugs and made him a drug addict. The situation worsens when his parents died in a car accident. He was left alone and even his relatives took advantage of his helplessness and pushed him to a situation where he was left with nothing. Nava eventually gave up in his struggle to fight against all these odds and took his own life.
Brilliantly acted by Naba himself, Nava’s character makes us wonder why an innocent soul has to meet this tragic end. We as general public usually have very strong opinion about drug and drug addicts and do not hesitate to condemn them by strongest of our words. However, we fail to identify the reasons that prompt a completely sane person's addiction towards drugs. This short film makes us think about this issue and it is probably the biggest success of Naba’s effort. Spotless has been screened in Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival and Naba was the joint winner of the best actor award along with the legendary Nasheeruddin Shah.
by Nivedita Dutta
