New York Film Academy alum Tushar Tyagi has a new short film that was recently released entitled “Kaashi.” Tushar graduated from NYFA in New York City in 2013 after completing the 1-Year Filmmaking program.
“Kaashi” focuses on a widespread but oft-overlooked humanitarian issue in India. A chronic problem country-wide is that 1.2 billion of households do not have convenient access to toilets. The consequences for women, in particular, are huge. “Kaashi” tells just one of these many stories of a teenage girl living in a poverty in an Indian village. The main character is insistent on getting simple but necessary toilet built in her house. The film shows the hardships to get something as simple as a bathroom necessity constructed in a home. The content of the film is supported by the Indian government.
“The subject comes from my personal experiences and observations,” Tyagi told Tribune India. Having been born in Muradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Tushar has lived around the environment he depicts in his new 11-minute short. Urvashi Singh was cast to play the lead role of Kaashi and Ishrat Khan also stars as the lead’s mother.
Tyagi studied computer engineering from the College of Engineering, Roorkee in India before switching gears at NYFA. “I’m so blessed to have done my film studies at NYFA,” Tyagi beamed. “Back in 2012 I had just got graduated as engineer, I wanted to be a filmmaker, and from my online research I found out that NYFA is one of the most hands-on film schools, which I found to be the absolute truth, I ended up working in 4 projects films by the first week into the course at NYFA.” He goes on to describe NYFA as a “learning temple” and “a big stepping stone” in his career. The school’s hands-on style has proven to be a boon to burgeoning filmmakers trying to get into the industry immediately after graduation.
The Indian-born filmmaker also recently released a short film entitled “A Broken Egg,” which was shot in Los Angeles. He is known for past works including “Rose,” “Hari,” and “Midnight.” His first film “Gulabee” was made as his thesis film at NYFA and won 24 awards.