Story Book is a music video by Prarthana Joshi.

It tells a heartwarming story describing a father-daughter relationship shown from the perspective of the father. The story beautifully unfolds to the song “Damlelya Babachi Kahani” composed by Salil Kulkarni and written by Sandeep Kare.

The song became immensely popular in India when it was first performed at the 500^th show of Aayyushyawar Bolu Kahi on Zee Marathi Television. Prarthana was deeply touched by it that she had to contact Salil Kulkarni and then artistically created a video that complimented the song.

In a busy world where we live, our relationships, especially with our children can be greatly affected. Story Book tells of one such father, who throughout his life must work in order to provide for the future of his daughter, when all he wants to do instead is to be with his daughter. All he desires is to pick her up in his arms and tell her numerous stories but alas, long and arduous hours at work keep him from his wish. By the time he comes home from work, his daughter is already asleep, and by the time she awakens, he is already on his way to work. The father ends up dreaming of a perfect time where he has endless time to play with her. Years pass by and the daughter leaves her father to go to college.

Prathana lives in Los Angeles and chose the picturesque landscapes of the town to film her music video. She chose to break the barriers of language and narrate the story of the song without using dialogue. She cast American actors for the father and daughter roles and viewers loved this cross-over no-dialogue combination because they could associate with the story and emotions. When asked about this choice, Prathana says “Sandeep Khare’s words were so powerful that I thought that they had to be heard by everyone without being lost in translation.” Indeed, the story tells of an universal truth – familial love and its importance – and this is something which all parents and children can relate to. Prarthana employs editing, framing, color scheme choices and duration of the music video to effectively highlight the relationship dynamic and how important quality time with family is, which cannot always be achieved when work becomes involved. Beautiful moments are captured with the actors, such as the image of the young girl twirling around with balloons above her in the living room, and such striking scenes retain the original essence of the song, that is the happiness and beauty of family time. Moreover, having the video in black and white, captures the timeless quality of such a moment which is indicative of how we should treasure family time, before it passes by. The back and forth editing between the father working and the daughter being alone show how work in this busy world can cause a rift in the development of a father- daughter relationship. The dream sequence shows the contrasts of life and the use of repetitive shots show the change in time, and once this opportunity to be by his daughter’s side instead of hard at work passes, it is gone forever. Story Book is indeed a relatable story that we all choose to ignore. We lose time in planning our futures and tend to forget what really matters. “I am young to understand what it is like to be a parent but this song was me trying to understand what all the fathers felt and how much they loved their children” – Prarthana.