Private Project

An Irrelevant Dialogue

An octogenarian couple, Shankar and Ila Bagchi, live a life of isolation confined within one room of a big, empty and time-worn house in the city. Childless by choice and unwilling to become a burden on their kin, they are in constant tussle with panic and fear. The thought of a deteriorated future – a life succumbed to bed-bounding sickness or alone without their sole companion, makes their existing loneliness only deeper. After having offered all that they could to the society including pledging their organs, they are convinced of the purposelessness of their present. Plagued by uncertainty of tomorrow and the weary mundanity of today, they resort to writing to the President of India. They plead guilty of a crime they believe to have committed – of living beyond seventy-five years, and request mercy. While awaiting the consequences of this extreme position towards their right to die with dignity, they seek desperate measures to fulfil their desire that challenges the status quo.
Inspired from a true story, the film tries to explore the life of this couple through contemplative aesthetics, carefully stripping it of any superfluous movement, both visual and dramaturgical. The observational portrayal tries to capture the infinite stasis of these two lives in its essential perceived form. However, the normative social structures of our everyday life render these characters insignificant and their extremist take against the conditioned value surrounding life as irrational and inconsequential. An irrelevant dialogue.

  • Moinak Guho
    Director
  • Moinak Guho
    Writer
  • Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
    Producer
  • Kalyan Chatterjee
    Key Cast
    "Shankar Bagchi"
  • Maya Ghosh
    Key Cast
    "Ila Bagchi"
  • Kenneth Cyrus
    Cinematography
  • Eshan Sil
    Edit
  • Arkadeep Karmakar
    Sound Recording & Design
  • Srirup Sarkar
    Production Design
  • Mahak Gupta
    Colorist
  • Swatilina Samanta
    Exceutive Producer
  • Amitabha Das
    Exceutive Producer
  • Miyoung Yoo
    Original Background Score
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    এক অপ্রাসঙ্গিক সংলাপ (Ek Awprasongik Songlaap)
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    33 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 31, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    19,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital. ARRI 2.8K RAW
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. India.
  • 17th SiGNS Film Festival
    Thrissur, Kerala.
    India
    September 29, 2019
    National Premiere
    Official Selection - Competition
  • 39th Filmschool Fest Munich
    Munich
    Germany
    November 20, 2019
    International Premiere
    Award - Best Cinematography: Student Camera Award
  • 11th Cut.In Student Film Festival
    Mumbai
    India
    December 13, 2019
    Award - Jury Special Mention for Short Fiction
  • Arthouse Asia Film Festival
    Kolkata
    India
    January 8, 2020
    Official Selection
  • 3rd Kautik International Film Festival
    Marchula, Uttarakhand
    India
    November 9, 2019
    Awards - the Audience Choice Award for Best Indian Short Fiction.
  • 3rd Kautik International Film Festival
    Nainital, Uttarakhand
    India
    November 9, 2019
    Awards - the FCCI (Film Critics Circle of India) Award for Best Indian Short Fiction.
  • 11th Cut.In Student Film Festival
    Mumbai
    India
    December 13, 2019
    Award - Silver Owl for Cinematography
  • 4th Kalinga Global Film Festival
    Bhubaneswar
    India
    January 18, 2020
    Award - Best Student Short Fiction
  • Winter Dialogues (Art event/exhibition)
    Mussorie, Uttarakhand
    India
    January 26, 2020
    Official Selection
  • 3rd South Asian Short Film Festival
    Kolkata
    India
    March 30, 2020
    Official Selection
  • FFSI Online Film Festival

    India
    July 27, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Nottingham Arts Mela

    United Kingdom
    August 20, 2020
    Official Selection
  • SPHERE - World Cinema Carnival

    India
    September 5, 2020
    Official Selection
  • 3rd South Asian Short Film Festival
    Kolkata
    India
    October 1, 2020
    Ritwik Ghatak Silver Award for 2nd Best Short Fiction
  • 45th Laceno d'oro International Film Festival
    Irpinia
    Italy
    December 11, 2020
    Italian Premiere
    Official Competition Selection
  • 4th Cineville Annual Film Festival
    New Delhi
    India
    April 14, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Imagine India Film Festival
    Madrid
    Spain
    May 19, 2021
    Spanish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Lift Off Sessions
    Online
    United Kingdom
    Official Selection
  • International Federation of Film Societies Asia-Pacific Film Festival.

    May 24, 2021
  • 10th International Film Festival of South Asia
    Toronto
    Canada
    August 17, 2021
    North American Premiere
    Award - Best Director (Featurette Films)
  • 10th International Film Festival of South Asia
    Toronto
    Canada
    August 22, 2021
    North American Premiere
    Award - Best Actor Female (Featurette Films)
  • 5th Pame Film Festival
    Pokhara
    Nepal
    December 28, 2021
    Nepal Premiere
Director Biography - Moinak Guho

Moinak Guho, is a filmmaker based out of Kolkata. An alumnus of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, where he completed his Post Graduation in Cinema, specializing in Direction and Screenplay Writing. During his coursework in SRFTI he has made short films, both fiction and non-fiction, under the scope of his curriculum and also outside of it with independent grants. This, “An Irrelevant Dialogue” his final project in SRFTI had its national premiere at the 13th SiGNS Film Festival, Kerala 2019, and its international premiere at the 39th FilmSchoolFest Munich, 2019, where it won the Best Cinematography award. The film has since won seven awards and has been screened at several festivals. Most of his short films have traveled across festivals like, the 41st Laceno d'oro, Italy; Nottingham Arts Mela, 36th VGIK Student Festival, Moscow; 15th Mumbai International Film Festival, Mumbai; 11th IDSFFK, Kerala; 9th & 11th Cut.In, Mumbai; 4th Woodpecker Film Festival, New Delhi and several others. Besides these, he has assisted Naeem Mohaiemen, Nishtha Jain, Anirban Datta & Sourav Sarangi in their upcoming films. He is currently writing his debut feature film.

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Director Statement

Inspired from a true story of a living couple in India, this film is a fictional interpretation of their lives. Through the essayist portrayal of the lives of this couple the film tries to explore a global dialogue which is still considered a taboo across the world leaving two or three countries in particular. What fascinated me immediately as I read the story in a newspaper last year, is primarily the character of the old man in whose arguments I found a reflection of myself and realizing that he believed in these ideologies back in his youth was pleasantly surprising as well as resonating. Standing deep into the 21st century where we all are living isolated lives and the constant change in lifestyle with advancement in technology has made "choice" an incremental index to personal freedom, I believe this conversation that the film aims to initiate becomes essential to engage with, albeit uncomfortable. However, in reality, with these characters being insignificant someone, the argument being against the established "normal" apparently seems to be irrational and inconsequential. An irrelevant dialogue.