Fourth Indo-Bangla Movie Festival In Delhi From 3rd February

Dilip Guha, New Delhi: Marking its return after the pandemic, the Fourth Edition of the Indo-Bangla Movie Festival is to be held from 3rd to 5th February in association with Purple Touch Creatives and Probhas Kalyani Priti Trust in the capital.

A bouquet of a star-studded line of award-winning films from India and Bangladesh showcasing the cultural traditions and unique storytelling of regional language filmmakers will be screened during a film festival at Siri Fort Auditorium III.

Because of the Pandemic, the Indo-Bangla Movie Festival also had to take a pause in the previous years(2020 & 2021).

Talking to this reporter, the Festival Director, Shri Asish Ranjan Das, said that “as we slowly move back to life as it used to be, the movie fest is imagined as a space for renewed conversations and celebrations between everyone committed to creating art and keeping culture alive. There will also be Q&A sessions after each show including audience participation. It brings together a wide cross-section of people like cinephiles, filmmakers, artists, writers, journalists – to interact and form friendships and foster camaraderie over films and conversations.”

“During the festival, there will also be a special felicitation to the national award winner, director Gautam Ghose & Neelanjana Ghose, whose films Raahgir and Ray are also being screened” he added. Other notable attendees include Chanchal Chowdhury, Koushik Ganguly, Anik Dutta, Rima Das, Rajat Kapur, Adil Hussain, Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, Kamaleswar Mukherjee, Ujaan Ganguly, Ishaan Ghose, Monjul Boruah, Payel Sarkar, Suparnakanti Karati, Fidausul Hasan & Dr. Jahanara Begum.

The festival will open with Anik Dutta’s movie Aparajito (The Undefeated), a tribute to legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, in his birth centenary and it’s inspired by the story behind the making of Ray’s iconic film ‘Pather Panchali’. Aparajito is an Indian Bengali-language biographical film directed and co-written by Anik Dutta. It was produced by Firdausul Hasan and Probal Halder under the banner of Friends Communication. The film, being shot in black and white, stars Jeetu Kamal in the titular role of Aparajito Ray. The film swept the West Bengal Film Journalists’ Association (WBFJA) awards winning eight crowns, including Best Film and Best Director.

Anusandhan (The Search) is a 2021 Indian Bengali-language psychological thriller film directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee for Big Screen Films Limited. Starring Saswata Chatterjee, Churni Ganguly, Joydeep Mukherjee and Riddhi Sen, the film is an adaptation of a play directed by Kamaleswar himself. The movie is an adaptation of the 1956 novel “A Dangerous Game” by Friedrich.

Goutam Ghose’s ‘Raahgir, -The Wayfarers’ is a Hindi film to be screened at the festival. –The film stars Adil Hussain, Tillotama Shome, Neeraj Kabi and Omkardas Manikpuri. The film is produced by Amit Agarwal. Based on a short story by Prafulla Roy, Raahgir is a tale of three strangers who meet on their journeys and develop a bond that is based purely on their kindness and their willingness to sacrifice their own basic needs to save human lives. The film highlights the importance of human relations and how humanity can survive even in difficult situations. The indomitable spirit that enthuses the marginalized in this story describes another India, hidden deep in the recesses of the sub-continent. An epic journey through the relentless monsoon and breathtaking nature.

The festival will for the first time screen an international film from Bangladesh, “ Hawa” a mystery drama film written and directed by Mejbaul Rehman. Its Miracles is about the life story of fishermen. Eight sailors are on board their fishing trawler in the ocean. During the journey, they discover a mysterious gipsy girl. The film revolves around the fishermen and the girl being trapped in the fishing trawler without a destination in the deep sea. The story of the film is based on a fairy tale with an element of mythology. With this film, the festival begins its journey of international recognition with plans for much more in the future.

Another film “Lokkhi Chheele” is a 2022 Indian Bengali language drama film written and directed by Kaushik Ganguly will be screened. The film is produced by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee under the banner of Windows Production.

It tells the story of unconditional love and compassion in a dark hour of disillusionment – where, in the end, the only religion that stands steadfast, strong, and undefeated is humanity. The film is all about faith, religion is just an insignificant afterthought. The film stars Ujaan Ganguly as the protagonist. Amir, the “Lokkhi chheele”, is a human being first. And that’s the mirror society needs right now.

Two much anticipated Assamese films to be shown at the festival, ‘ANUR’ directed by Monjul Baruah and ‘Bulbul can sing’ directed by Rima Das are expected to be big crowd pullers due to their prior success.