Bootstrap: The Genesis

Date: 12th February, 2008
Location: S5 IT Classroom, Govt. Engineering College, Barton Hill

‘Microrprocessors and Interfacing’ was being taught at class. It was the final hour of the semester. Most students were droopy-eyed and half-asleep, even as the teacher went on to teach the nuances of 8255 Controller.

However, two students were dejected for a different reason. Their dream, their baby, hadn’t materialized. They had thought about it all the semester, they’d made huge plans. They wanted to make it big. But the strong arm of fate hit them hard and pinned them to the ground. But they had the will, they wanted their dream to materialize.

Yes, the students wanted to make a movie. But it was the last day of class. The exams would start on the 18th of December. Time was a problem. And their old script was fully repudiated and ridiculed by their buddies. They had to zero in on a new story and they were too demoralized to make one.

Now, the students were none other than Azarudeen (not the cricketer!) and yours truly!

Suddenly yours truly had a brainwave. Azar was questioned and woken up from his state of half-slumber.
“Dude, why don’t we make a movie NOW?”

Azar was stupefied.
“Duh! Now? You mean, today? But how? We don’t even have a story!”
Yours Truly: “Dude, we’ll make one now. See, we’ve this assignment to be submitted today. We’ll weave a story out of it. What say?”
Azar: “But, but how’re we goanna shoot it? Do we have a cam?”
Yours Truly “No worries, man! I’ve Sreehari’s camera with me! We’ll make the movie!”
Azar: “That’s the spirit, buddy! We’ll start now!”

The rest of the hour saw some intense planning, all amid silence. We brainstormed for over half an hour, dropping in points here and there, and finally writing a rudiment of our script. Our movie was born. We christened it:

“Bootstrap”

To tweak an oft-quoted cliche, the rest of the day saw some kick-ass action which actually made history! The ‘set’ (our class) was readied. Actors were coaxed and cajoled under gunpoint (and sweet promises). The nuances were explained, Arc-lights (tube lights!!) were fixed. The shooting began. Within an hour, we were done. “Bootstrap” became a reality.

It didn’t stop just by that. We (read, Azar & I) worked round the clock, braving tight exam schedules to make our 5 minute movie! It wasn’t an easy job. Azar’s PC overheated due to maniacal ‘rendering’ softwares!! I lost my mind, literally, editing music. After all that work, our babe is ready for release. If all goes well, our worldwide release will happen on the 1st of February. We’re all thrilled! 🙂

Yeah, we’ve even made our website! Please visit:

http://boot.harishanker.net/