Google invites amateurs to send clips for 'India in a Day'

Calling all amateur filmmakers across India: Here’s your chance to capture a slice of your life that could end up on the big screen. Google said it is teaming up with filmmakers Ridley Scott, Richie Mehta and Anurag Kashyap to create a full-length user-generated movie called ‘India in a Day’. The company invited anyone with a camera or phone to film scenes on October 10 and upload their footage to http://indiainaday.withgoogle.com. Selected clips will be made into a movie scheduled to be released next year that will be directed by Mehta. Anyone whose footage is included will be listed as “co-director”, a press release from Google Inc said. Scott, who will serve as an executive producer with Kashyap, said it did not matter how small or personal the footage was – from riding a bike to calling your mum. “It just simply needs to bear witness to what life is like in today’s India – that’s magical enough,’’ he said. Mehta, a Canadian filmmaker who directed “I’ll Follow You Down,’’ said the project was so personal to him that he believed that film was a perfect way to showcase what makes India “so extraordinary and dispel its myths.’’ Indian filmmakers R Balki, Shekhar Kapur and Zoya Akhtar will serve as creative consultants. “Tell us what you love, what you hate, what worries you, what you hope for, what you want to change,’’ said Kashyap. Associated Press