New wave film-makers demand special theatres for their films

Young Indian film-makers and directors of ‘offbeat’ or ‘new wave’ films have pitched in for creating special theatres for showing their films. Addressing a joint press conference in the ‘Meet the Directors – Indian Feature and Non-feature films’ section at the 43rd International Film Festival of India in Panaji, Goa today they felt that there are dedicated viewers for their films but in the absence of a proper distribution mechanism the films are not being released in multiplexes.

The Director of ‘Char : The No-Man’s Island’ Sourav Sarangi said that his film is being shown in Japan and other international film festivals, but it has no takers in India. The Director of ‘Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ Gurvinder Singh said that there is a crying need to have a chain of theatres which will show only new wave cinema. The Director of ‘Vanishing Point’ Abhijit Mazumdar and the Director of ‘Lessons in Forgetting’ Unni Vijayan also agreed with them.

‘Char : The No-Man’s Island’ is the story of Rubel, a fourteen-year-old boy who smuggles rice by crossing the river Ganga. The same river eroded his entire village when he was just four. Seven years later, a fragile tiny island called Char formed within the large river. The homeless families from both India and Bangladesh shifted to this forbidden zone. Rubel tries to combine school and smuggling together. However, the demands at home build up. Desperate for a job, Rubel jumps on a train bound for Kerala. Sourav Sarangi explained that his film has tried to trace the conflict between the nature and the human beings as also the indomitable spirit of the marginal man to fight back for his livelihood.

NFDC film ‘Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ is the story of a dalit family in a village in Punjab which wakes up to the news of the demolition of a house of one of their community members. Father, a silent sympathizer, joins his community in demanding justice for the affected family. The same day, his son Melu, a cycle-rickshaw puller in the city, is participating in a strike by his union. Cycling through the city streets, Melu feels lost and wonders where to go and what to do. Back in the village, his mother feels humiliated at the treatment meted out by the landlords in whose fields she works. A man wonders asking for the traditional alms while Father decides to visit the city with a friend, even as his daughter Dayalo walks through the village streets in the night. ‘Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ has won many awards in various festivals.

‘Vanishing Point’ is the story of two friends Aurko and Sachin. They are travelling by a car to look for locations for a small film they are planning to make. Aurko is perpetually high on marijuana. Sachin doesn’t approve of Aurko’s smoking habit. Aurko comes across an old man whom he keeps seeing at different points of their journey. He gets mesmerized and tries to follow him. Sachin loses track of Aurko. Aurko is left alone in the darkness. As he continues to walk towards his destination, robbers attack him. The journey derails into a realm of the unknown.

‘Lessons in Forgetting’ is a gripping and heartwarming story of redemption, forgiveness and second chances. The story is woven around a single father, J.A. Krishnamurthy, or JAK, who relentlessly follows a trail to find out how his teenage daughter, Smriti, ended up on a hospital bed, almost dead. Helping JAK in his chase is a single mother Meera, whose husband has walked out on their marriage, leaving her to bring up their two growing children and care for her aging mother and grandmother, all on her own.

Directors of ‘Samhita’ Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, also addressed a press conference later today and explained the nuances of the storyline of their film. The story of the film ‘Samhita’ goes like this: an ailing film producer wants his wife to produce a film on his favorite story – a story of passion and surrender between a king and a court singer. The wife hands over the responsibility to Revati who is going through a strained relationship with her husband. She meets the woman writer, Tara, an aristocrat spinster. Hemangi, a well-known actress who is in a live-in-relationship with a painter, is chosen for the role of the court singer.