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Manoj Rajdutt is a producer/director for an Indian production company based in Delhi with the most splendid name, Infinity & Beyond Productions and I should begin this little intro by admitting that it was only that very name that caught my keen email eye. I thought, "Who are these genial gerunds and indeed, is there really nothing beyond their capabilities?"
Then I awoke.
It transpired that of all my noble Indian friends and acquaintances, these people beat them all. They specialise in many areas of social relevance filmmaking from women's empowerment, prostitution and adult education through disabled awareness to drug and endangered species trafficking. They have a truly impressive filmography of shorts, features and documentaries and they are, as with most Indians I've met, wonderfully polite.
Their next project concerns child labour. The Colours of Absence is a short silent piece about a young shoeshine boy called Raju, his life of premature physical toil and the simple hope that arises in him on the site of a colourful flying above him. Emotive stuff indeed and it begs the question of how many people do I know who will sacrifice the Big Money for long enough to express the endemic problems of their fellow man.
I suppose I'd better answer the question that the more astute among you must be asking. i.e. What on Earth does an Indian production company have to do with an exclusively UK site? - Well, they are looking for a like minded organisation or person to co-produce the movie with. Contact details follow the interview.

When did Infinity and Beyond Productions begin life?
6th March 1998.

How many are involved?
The core of the team includes Praveen K Singh the Associate Producer, Kamal Negi our Cameramen, Amit Jolly - Editor, Janki Kathayt & Manish Arora - Assistant Directors/ Researchers, Raj Rani Arora is the Art Director, Ranvir Singh Mahar the Production Manager and of course me - Manoj Rajdutt Producer/ Director.How did you meet?
We are all in the field for several years and during 1998-99 we were in regular touch through different projects we were doing for other production houses. We found that there were very few people working towards any particular cause, that is literacy, the environment, population-education, the status of women and children, drug-abuse and the like. We thought of forming a group to produce socially relevant films apart from any other projects that came our way. So we joined up with Pratibimb Communications Pvt. Ltd. and formed this group - Infinity & Beyond Productions.Where are you based?
Delhi, the far North of India.From where did the ethos of social relevance filmmaking arise?
I strongly believe that the ethos of social relevance draws inner strength from the ground realities of the social milieu around us and especially so when we are associated with filmmaking. During the course of our routine social interaction on the typical Indian street, we come across the material and characters for stories of this kind.Is there a strong history social idealism through film in India?
Not a great deal, but it is there. The Indian Film Industry is still at the growing despite the fact that it produces more then 800 films each year, which is the largest output in the world; it still lacks a meaningful sense of social idealism.

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