National Award-winning filmmaker Suman Mukhapadhyay’s new film Nazarband, starring Indira Tiwari and Tanmay Dhanania, will be premiering at the Busan Film Festival. Based on Ashapurna Devi’s short story, it talks about two convicts navigating life in a city that is unkind to them.
In a freewheeling chat, Mukhopadhyay talked about his film and what it means for it to have a world premiere at Busan. “Actually, Nazarband has gone through a lot of changes because we took almost more than two years to complete the film," he said, adding, “I was a little apprehensive about what we would do with the film because the pandemic had invited a lot of uncertainty. But then we decided not to submit randomly to different festivals but to selected ones.
“So when I got a letter from Busan asking if we were open for a world premiere in Busan, and I said okay. It got selected and that was a big boost for the film, and also to my film career. It is a really big boost because Busan is quite a revered and renowned festival internationally."
The film festival, for the very first time, will be held both online and offline due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When asked if he will be attending, the filmmaker said, “I think this festival is a fully physical film festival and all the films will be screened in the theatres for the Korean people. But unfortunately, the South Korean law doesn’t allow any international guests."
“But, they have planned it very meticulously, I have continuously been in touch with them. They are doing everything to give the feel and presence of the international community online. After the screening, what they will do is, they will put us across the theatre online through video conferencing, we will actually be doing a Q/A with the audience sitting in the theatre. It is very cool and we have already done the tests. They wanted to ascertain that everything will be okay in terms of the ambience, sound and technology. By any chance, if there is some kind of failure, they have already taken a video note from us to play in case of an emergency," he added.
“It is basically about the characters and not a plot-driven story. It is mostly the psychology of the characters. It is what makes it special, gives it a very special rhythm to it. Essentially it is a love story. These two people are from the margins of the so-called society. They are migrants, they are not from Bengal but they navigate and get into a lot of trouble. They go through a lot of issues, there is a chase that happens through the city," he explained.
“Kolkata is also the third main character. If Chandu and Vasanti are the two characters, Kolkata is the third important character. It comes with the architecture, because North, South, east and West Kolkata are very different. The new Kolkata is also very different, as it is the corporate hub. So I tried to capture all these architectural differences, and that also creates a different kind of texture to the film. Finally, it goes to Jharkhand and Bihar. I have followed these characters, I took the camera and I tried to go to the psychological space of these two, very different characters."
The filmmaker also credited to the force behind the camera for their hardworking spirit for making the film. “We have a very fantastic crew. We have a woman writer, a woman DOP and a woman editor," he explained, adding that while editor Pinni Mitra also cut the trailer, cinematographer Kate McDonough never said no to shooting in any type of terrain.
Mukhopadhyay said that he met the lead actress Indira Tiwari while directing a play at NSD. He had decided then that he would ask her if she would like to work on his film. “I have been saying that without Tanmay and Indira, this would have been a very different film. Because they had a hold over their characters and it was under their skin. That was a great experience," he said.
He explained that the two mixed well with people, and it helped as the film was shot in a very organic manner. “Indira and Tanmay both are fabulous performers. They are both trained. Tanmay has a little bit of experience of working in some other films but this was Indira’s first film. Then she got some good opportunities in Bombay, she worked in Serious Men and she is working in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next. But she had a complete raw energy when I cast her," he added.
When asked what were his plans of releasing the film, Mukhopadhyay said, “The producer with whom I have been working with, Mr. Pawan Kanodia, and it is my fourth film with him, he has always released the films. We have always tried to release the film because I personally believed that the proper validation of a film comes out when you release it and people watch it in a theatre. But slowly we are getting out of that practice, and the pandemic has changed the course. I wish things would change soon, and then we have plans to release. But as of now, it seems like we have to put it across to an OTT platform for release."
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