THE director is barking orders from the edit suite as he cuts a shot featuring Jackie Shroff, a leading Indian film star. It could be an everyday scene of Bollywood folk making their movies — except the director is a nine-year-old boy.

Master Kishan, as he is known, has already been in 24 films and appeared in more than 1,000 episodes of a popular television soap opera. He is now fulfilling another dream: becoming the youngest director not just in India, but the world.

“I am different from other children, because this is the age for children to play,” admitted Kishan, now aged 10, last week, sitting in his director’s seat, his feet not quite touching the floor. “I like playing, but not as much as other children.

“I don’t know if the film will be successful, I hope it will be. I have a good feeling about it.”

Dressed in a black corduroy shirt and dark jeans, he looked like any affluent middle-class Indian child. Later at a local cafe he ordered coffee and mysore pak, a buttery sweet pudding, while fielding approaches from admiring fans.

Kishan, whose favourite actors are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Amithabh Bachchan, a Bollywood superstar, began his acting career aged four after his friends urged his parents to send him for an audition. He was given a part in Goddess of the Village, a fantasy adventure, before landing a leading role in Papa Pandu, a daily Bangalore soap. He wrote a hit song for a film at the age of six and has sung on others.

Kishan’s father Shri Kanth, a tax official, said his son had been obsessed with cameras since he was a toddler. “We noticed that when the camera was on him his behaviour would improve,” he said. “After he started working on the soap the staff would complain that he asked too many questions about this shot and that shot.”

Kishan’s transition to director began after he talked to children selling newspapers beside a busy road in Bangalore. When he asked them why they were not at school, some replied they were orphans, others that they would be beaten if they went home without any money.

Kishan was so moved that he wrote a short story about his encounter. “I want them to go to school and I hope the film encourages them to want to go,” he said.

With the help of local journalists, he turned his story into a screenplay, C/o Footpath, about a Bangalore boy drugged by a woman who uses him as a prop to beg on the streets.

Shroff came on board after meeting Kishan. When the boy started to describe the project he was so impressed that he asked for a part.

“He said he was also ‘C/o footpath’ — that he had been a nobody,” Kishan said.

Shroff, who has waived his fee, has been impressed by Kishan’s skill as a director. “He is constantly thinking about his next shot, constantly innovating to make it better,” he said. “He is sure about what he wants from his actors.”

Ironically, Kishan’s commitments mean he has attended school for only 10 days a month during filming. His secretary collects school notes to help him keep up.

Kishan nevertheless shows little sign of missing classes. He speaks good English and Kannada, the local language, and understands Hindi and Tamil.

The film, shot on a modest £100,000 budget typical of the local film industry, has caused such a buzz that distribution rights have already been snapped up. It is being dubbed in at least two other Indian languages.

Meenakshi Shedde, a film critic, said Kishan had scored a major coup in recruiting Shroff and Saurabh Shukla, another well-known actor. “The boy must be talented to have this kind of help,” she said.

To date, Kishan’s film work has earned him £15,000 — a significant sum for a small boy. Kishnan said he enjoys being famous, except when middle-aged women pat his cheeks.

Shrikanth, however, worries that his son is missing childhood and recently invited his friends to bring their children on a beach holiday so that Kishan could play. He was surprised to see him building row after row of sand castles.

“When I asked him why he was building them in rows, he held his hands up to make a frame and said it was to give the shot depth,” he said. A child psychologist friend has reassured him his son is fine.

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