Private Project

Illegitimate : The Dialogues between Karna and Kunti

The epic battle of Mahabharata in ancient India has erupted between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, over the dynastic succession of the throne. One valiant fighter stood in the way of the Pandavas’ victory - Karna, the commander of the Kauravas, whom the Pandava-Queen Kunti conceived in union with the Sun god before marriage but forced to abandon at birth to hide her shame as an unwed mother. Unaware of his royal connection, Karna is determined to kill his greatest rival, half-brother Arjun. Knowing the fatal consequence, the Queen leaves the secluded palace to meet her abandoned son as a last attempt to stop the fight between the two brothers.

Illegitimate is based on a beautiful Bengali poem by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The film reflects upon the tragic consequence of a premarital affair resulting in the birth of a child out of wedlock, considered a social taboo for women since ancient times that continues to pervade modern India.

  • Subrata Das
    Director
  • Rabindranath Tagore
    Writer
  • Subrata Das
    Producer
  • Jayanti Bandyopadhaya
    Key Cast
    "Kunti"
  • Subrata Das
    Key Cast
    "Karna"
  • Ganesh Davuluri
    Director of Photography
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Illegitimate : The Dialogues between Karna and Kunti
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 57 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 28, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Subrata Das

I am the director and co-founder of the non-profit community English theater group Stage Ensemble Theater Unit (SETU) (www.setu.us) in the Boston area with a mission to bridge the cultural gap between India and western society. I am a board member of the Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA.

As a director, my foremost objective is to entertain audience by dramatizing powerful scripts with subtle social and political messages. While acting in and directing popular Indian dramas in the Boston area, I have frequently adopted Stanislavski’s system of method acting techniques. I enrich my techniques by exploiting the close relationship between acting and my work-related experience in the area of human cognitive thought processing. I investigate the relationship between an actor’s spontaneity and cognition, that is, how an actor lives in the present moment while delivering memorized dialogue.

I attended The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in NY for a month-long intensive training and an intensive weekend workshop with Shakespeare & Company.

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Director Statement

Though I have been directing and acing in English stage plays for the last 15 years, this is my first film based on a beautiful poem by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The film reflects upon the tragic consequence of a premarital affair resulting in the birth of a child out of wedlock, considered a social taboo for women since ancient times that continues to pervade modern India.