Recently formed film production company Rainmaker-VF is hoping that its debut film 'Tourettes Haiku' will challenges perceptions of mental illness and drug abuse within the South Asian Community. The drama is inspired by Japanese poetry and deals with the life of a young Asian woman called, Sunni, who has to deal with Drug Addiction and Family Feuds, all as a result of the neurological disorder, Tourette's Syndrome. Introducing new acting talent Rakhee Thakrar ('Precious Bazaar' and Shajait Khan (Silver Street), the film explores the themes of mental illness and drug use within the Asian community often still considered taboo, can tear a family apart.

Tourette's syndrome causes Sunni to utter vulgar obscenities totally at random, a trait that has completely alienated her from the world at large. Misunderstood and estranged from her family, Sunni turns to heroin to help her cope with her illness, the drug acting as her only release from Tourette's.

She returns to her family home looking for money to help feed her heroin addiction, a course of action that leads her into direct conflict with her elder brother, Gurmit. Wracked with guilt for ransacking the family home, Sunni attempts a reconciliation with her father, Tarsem, a meeting that goes terribly wrong and changes their lives forever.

Tourettes Haiku's unusual narrative style makes good use of the film's short running time by telling fragments of a story; focusing on only the important events of Sunni's story. The film's three-act structure mirrors the three-line structure of Japanese haiku. A specific haiku inspires each act with the overall story arc linking each of the different acts together.

The film juxtaposes beauty with the uglier side of life; hence the title, Tourettes Haiku, which can roughly be translated as 'uncontrollably violent poetry'.

Tourettes Haiku aims to tackle its variety of themes in a subtle, thought provoking and intelligent manner, all as the look of the film changes from gritty realism to images that are often dreamlike and hallucinatory.

CAST

Sunni: Rakhee Thakrar

Rakhee Thakrar has trained professionally with Hathi Productions for 5 years and is a graduate of the Leicester School of World Theatre. She has been on a national tour of the musical Precious Bazaar in which she plays the lead, Suhani.

Currently, she plays the role of Roopa Chauhan on the BBC Asian Network soap Silver Street. Alongside acting, Rakhee has also ventured into other directions such as scriptwriting, directing and journalism.

Last year she instigated the birth of a new theatre company and is now one of the three managing directors of 'Four Squared'.

Tarsem: Shajait Khan

Shajait Kahn's passion for acting was ignited when first exposed to western cinema after arriving in the UK at the age of 10. His dedication led him to train at The Midlands Academy of Dance & Drama, before getting his big break in the Alan Dosser film, 'Love Match', starring opposite Saeed Jaffrey.

Shajait has starred in numerous film and TV productions for both the UK and Asian markets. He has produced, directed and acted in a wide range of stage plays and is also a founding member of the production company, Mehtab Arts.

Shajait is currently working as a cast member on the BBC radio soap, 'Silver Street'.

Gurmit: Kuldip S. Korotana.

Kuldip Korotana trained at ALRA and The School of The Science of Acting. After graduating from SofA he went to Los Angeles to study at TVI Studios. Kuldip has recently finished filming the The Curry.

BALWANT DASS - Writer / Director:

Writer and Director Balwant Dass co-founded the independent production company, Rainmaker-VF Ltd, in early 2004 with Davinder Claire and Jaspal Virdee. Rainmaker-VF have subsequently produced work for the broadcast sector, with their work being shown on channels such as BBC News 24, B4U Music and Zee TV. They have also worked for the corporate and educational markets, and have also produced music videos and covered live events.

Balwant Dass is head of scriptwriting and film development for Rainmaker-VF. He has developed numerous film, drama and comedy scripts with other young, up & coming writers and aims to spearhead Rainmaker-VF's move into Film and Television.