National award-winning filmmaker Amartya Bhattacharyya, whose last movie 'Adieu Godard' created waves on the festival circuits in India and abroad, is nearly ready with his next film based on the devastation caused by cyclone Fani.
He said the Odia film, titled 'Whispers Of Storm', is at present in the post-production stage.
"I visited Odisha after the state was ravaged by Fani in 2019. I witnessed how life there became miserable following the cyclone. But, I didn't want to take the opportunity of the people's suffering and shoot a documentary. So, I created a few characters on my own -- it's a fictional film in a documentary setting," he told PTI.
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Bhattacharyya's 'Adieu Godard', which premiered at the 43rd Moscow International Film Festival, recently won the best film in the Indian category at the Kolkata International Film Festival.
He is also working on a musical film, made in Bengali. Rockstar Rupam Islam is the composer of the film along with noted guitarist Amyt Datta.
"Around 70-80 per cent of the film is only songs. It is not a typical commercial film, the songs are a part of the narrative. I have never seen a film that is close to this one, it is very different," he said.
"The working title is 'Adam'er Sontan' (Son of Adam). In this film, we are tracing the journey of human beings -- how a child born in the garden of Eden amid nature gradually becomes civilised and eventually gets pissed off by the modern society and wants to go back to nature. This cyclic journey is the narrative of the film," Bhattacharyya added.
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All songs in the movie are in Islam's voice and just a guitar has been used as an accompanying instrument, he said.
"No star cast as such, but Rupam and Amyt are appearing in the film. Swastik Choudhury plays the lead," he said.
Asked when the films would be ready for screening, Bhattacharyya said he has not set a deadline but is hopeful that they would be completed soon. "Many directors would have completed these films by now, but I am very particular about the nitty gritty and currently working to fine-tune them," he said.
Bhattacharyya's last film is a socio-cultural comic, which pays tribute to iconic French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.
Set in rural Odisha, the film follows the story of a man named Ananda who watches pornography with friends. He accidentally stumbles upon a Godard film thinking it to be pornography and gradually develops an obsession.
"Godard is one of the most radical filmmakers in the world and he challenges institutions. He is also a very filmmaker who takes up complex subjects and is definitely inaccessible for a common man based in rural Odisha. This inaccessibility gives me a cushion to play with the contrast," the director said.
Bhattacharyya, who won a National Award in 2016 for best cinematography for his fantasy documentary 'Benaras -- the unexplored attachments', said 'Adieu Godard' would soon be released commercially.
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[With Inputs From PTI]
