Piklu
This film, narrates the story of a young man, who have formed his entire academic career in Bengali Language and have gained PhD in that subject. Suddenly he finds that the entire “Bengali” community as an ethnic group has suffered a loss of cultural values-identity as they have surrendered to the state aided language hegemony, firstly English as a colonial hangover and then Hindi, resulting from the superficial Nation-building objective of the Union Government. Financially, culturally defeated this young man, in order to retard his national, cultural and even religious identity loss, tries to find solace in spiritual practices. He comes in contact with a pseudo-religious preacher, who trains him to meditate and find out about past lives. In the end, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a famous Bengali Linguist, Bengali icon and revivalist of the language appears in front of him and slaps him as a mark of protest for not undertaking the challenge of reversing language loss in his community, while seeking refuge in desultory religious practices.
The cinematic language and the content of the film is political satire and the context is seen as a hyperbole.
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Mrinmoy NandiDirector
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Mrinmoy NandiWriter
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Kaahon KommunicationsProducer
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Kaushik ChattapadhyayKey Cast"Guruji"
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Sudip ChakrabortyKey Cast"Ritwik"
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Sneharghya PramanikKey Cast"Piklu"
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Rayati BhattacharyaKey Cast"Meera"
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Madhumita DhamKey Cast"Piklu's mother"
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Saumya SenguptaKey Cast"Piklu's Grandfather"
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Subhankar GhatakKey Cast"Kamal (Made Servant) "
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Himi SarmaKey Cast"Local Train singer"
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Project Type:Short
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Runtime:26 minutes 19 seconds
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Completion Date:August 15, 2019
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Production Budget:5,000 USD
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Country of Origin:India
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Country of Filming:India
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Language:Bengali, English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:2.4:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Cine-Parbon International Short Film Carnival and Awards 2020Barrackpore
India
No
Best Film, 1st Runner Up and Best Cinematography -
Pattaya International Film FestivalPattaya
Thailand
Best Short Film & Best Editing -
10th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival-2020New Delhi
India
Honorable Jury Mention -
Tagore International Film Festival 2020Bolpur
India
January 25, 2020
Audience Choice Award -
International Open Film Festival, DhakaDhaka
Bangladesh
• Outstanding Achievement Award- Short film, Cinematography, Editing, Actor, Special Mention - Screenplay -
Siliguri Short & Documentary Film Festival, 2020Siliguri
India
January 31, 2020
Official Selection -
Darbhanga International Film Festival, 2020Darbhanga
India
Official Selection -
3rd South Asian Short Film Festival 2020Kolkata
India
Official Selection
Qualification
Bachelor of Science, University of Calcutta
Post-Graduation in Cinematography, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI)
Nominations & Awards
Direction
PIKLU - a short fiction
• Best Film-1st Runner Up & Best Cinematography Award, Cine-Parbon International Short Film Carnival and Awards 2020
• Outstanding Achievement Award - Short Film & Editing, Pattaya International Film Festival 2020
• Honorable Jury Mention, 10th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2020
• Audience Choice Award, Tagore International Film Festival 2020
• Outstanding Achievement Award- Short film, Cinematography, Editing, Actor, Special Mention - Screenplay, International Open Film Festival, Dhaka
• Semi Finalist, Kalaburagi International Short Film festival 2020
• Darbhanga International Film Festival 2020
• Siliguri Short & Documentary Film Festival 2020
• NexGn International Short Film Festival of India 2020
• 3rd South Asian Short Film Festival 2020
• Kalinga International Film Festival 2020
• Filmerra International Film & Web Series Festival 2020
• PlayButton Short Film Festival 2020
SHOHORNAMA (Urban shorts) - a short documentary
• Special Jury Mention, National Documentary Short Film Festival 2018
KHELNABATI (Play Things) - a long documentary
• Silver Palm - Mexico International film festival, 2012
• 0110 International Digital Film Festival
• International Documentary & Short Film Festival of Kerala
Activities
Recently completed an extensive research based audio-visual documentation project for Cultural Research Institute, Kolkata on art, culture and crafts of 10 scheduled tribes of North Bengal.
Editor of www.kaahon.com, the leading web portal researching, documenting and archiving art & cultural activities of present and past.
Being an educated young man, I am struggling to survive a language loss which is a carrier of my identity and also cultural independence.