Film by City-based Director Makes it to Cannes

A short film ‘Hoyto Kobitar Jonyo’ (In Poetic Hues) made by Bhubaneswar based independent filmmaker Amartya Bhattacharyya will have its world premiere at the prestigious 68th Festival De Cannes 2015 under the ‘Court Métrage’ section in May this year.

The surreal film has been shot majorly in the areas around Udaygiri and Khandagiri, a few shots in Barang and a part in Kolkata. The film is produced by Swastik Choudhury, who is also an actor in the film, and all the cast and crew members are software engineers based in Bhubaneswar.

Movie Synopsis

The film is a satire on the present day society where creativity is killed every day, either by economic pressures, or by political corruption. Even common men, suggestively shown as greedy Opportunists, reject creativity since it gives them no tangible benefit.

In a fast-moving world of economic obsession, driven by dirty Politics, it becomes extremely difficult for creativity (a Poem) to find its place. Poem, or the creative spirit in a greater context, has been personified as a beautiful and traditional young lady, who keeps searching for her Poet.

She imagines her Poet to be her creator and her lover, and she feels committed to him, even though she knows that the Poet is dead. Rhyme, another character in the film, depicted as an alter-ego of Poem, is her only companion.

In her search for Poet, Poem meets Economy, Politics and Opportunists and comes to know that all of them have their personal motives to kill the Poet, because creativity hurts them all, in some way or the other. Poem and the Rhyme, both committed to the Poet, move from their tormented present towards a dreamy past in search of their common lover.

Making of the Movie

The film is made with a budget of less than two thousand rupees and without any industry involvement. To cut costs and have better control over the film, Amartya himself has shot and edited the film, apart from writing and directing it.

All actors in the film are new faces, and Bhubaneswar based software engineers by profession, like Amartya himself. Amrita Chowdhury, the lead actress playing the character of a Poem in ‘Hoyto Kobitar Jonyo’, had earlier worked with Amartya as a choreographer and dancer in his Odia feature film ‘Capital I’, which was one of the six films in competition at the South Asian Alternative Film Festival, Paris, and was also officially selected at 13th Chalachitra Utsav, Bangladesh and West Florida Film Festival, USA.

Swastik Choudhury was a part of all of Amartya’s previous ventures, mostly as an actor and Producer. Bikramjit Roy had acted in a supporting role in Amartya’s 2012 film ‘Niloye Jokhon’, a film that fought for the dignity and respect of prostitutes in our society.

The film marks the acting debut of SK Ahamed Karim, Tamal Ghosh Dastidar, Mouli Malakar and Anshuman. The music has been composed by Kisaloy Roy, a Kolkata based trained classical musician, who made his debut as a music director in Amartya’s bold independent feature film ‘Capital I’, which deals with a strong lesbian relationship.

A few of Amartya’s earlier films are available online. His second Odia feature film will start soon. The script is ready, and the shooting is scheduled to begin by May.

Courtesy: Odisha Sun Times