Filmmaker Indranil Banerjee’s award-winning short film ‘Ujjhyo’s poster has been released with much fanfare on social media. It has won awards all over the world and almost at every film festival in India. The film will soon be released on OTT, and it will help the story reach a larger audience.
Talking to Prateek Sur, the ace director Indranil Banerjee speaks up about the film, how difficult it was to get the perfect cast, and where the movie created magic and won awards. Excerpts from the chat:
Tell us a bit about what ‘Ujjhyo’s is all about.
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It's a simple story about a father and his son. The story starts with a man entering a flat with a bag of vegetables and mutton. He goes around cleaning the household and cooking for an old man. While taking care of the old man various emotions run through him. He serves food to the old man, but he throws the plate away. What happens next forms the crux of the story.
Which film festivals the film has gone to and where all its won?
‘Ujjhyo’ won 18 national and international awards from prestigious film festivals around the world. This includes Best Director at Istanbul Film Awards, Indo-French International Film Festival, and Hollywood Academy Film Awards. Barun Chanda And Samrat Mukherjee bagged Best Actor from Banos De Aguya Santa International Film Festival (Ecuador), and Gladio Film Festival (Italy). Then it won Best Cinematography from Hyderabad, Best Producer from Harappa, Best Script from Vesuvius, and Best Editing from Gangtok International Film Festival. Lastly, it won Best Film Awards from Delhi’s Indogma Film Festival, France, Sweden and Chennai.
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‘Ujjhyo’ went to 15 worldwide selections as well and was also screened at Campinas (Brazil), Ecuador, Himachal, Telangana, Bengali, Karnataka, Pune film festivals, and many more.
‘Ujjhyo’ is also lined up for some big screenings in February like Sambhav International Travelling Film Festival organised by MAVA [Men Against Violation and Abuse] and at the Stockholm City Film Festival.
You have an interesting star cast. How difficult or easy it was to get them on board?
Before writing a script I always finalise my casting in my imaginary world where I visualise my takes and sequences as per my script. So, while narrating the story idea to my producers I always tell them first who I am thinking of. For example, in my latest series ‘Paanchphorons’ (Streaming at Mojoplex OTT), I told my producer I needed Paran Bandopadhyay without exception. The cast I lock in my head else the imaginary storyboard fades away. I do not mind if shooting begins late till the right casting is fixed. I never compromise with characters which I think of and this happened in ‘Ujjhyo’ too. I wanted to cast Barun Chanda as the father as his voice is just amazing, and Samrat Mukherji as the son. Both are brilliant actors who had very little dialogue and needed to express themselves just through facial expressions and body language. I don't work with producers who do not give me freedom. Casting is a major problem I face with my producers in Kolkata and nowhere else. I want to offer opportunities to new actors and do not like to change my casting at all. My best producer to date who gave me complete freedom is Maitreyee De who produced both ‘Ujjhyo’, and ‘A Sinful Story’ said to be India's first silent mini-series. She was also the creative director in these two projects in addition to being the producer. She respected my casting choice and did not interfere.
When is ‘Ujjhyo’ releasing on OTT and on which platform?
Like all of my previous films ‘The Chase’ (Amazon Prime USA UK ), ‘The Mirage’ (Shorts TV), ‘Trinayani’ (Pantaflix), ‘One Night Stand’ (Hook Films, MX Player), ‘Hello’ (MX Player) and India’s First Horror Mini Series (Amazon Prime USA UK) And Kolkata’s First Sitcom (Mojoplex) ‘Ujjhyo – The Unsaid’ will be streamed at Worlds Renowned OTT, Apple TV Or India’s Top Hotstar by May-June. As a filmmaker, I always believe a film must release worldwide and not only in Kolkata. That’s why I can’t thank enough my international distributors who not only love my films but also take them right away and respect my selection of cast and everything. Also getting an international distribution is all about your hard work and winning in top film festivals.
