Private Project

Smoking blocks...

Set in the backdrop of the lockdown announced in India, to prevent the spread of the Covid-19, this film captures such an Indian middle class family from the state of West Bengal. Coping with the new situation, stranded at home, a Bengali couple with their young two children revisited their family relations and enjoyed spending quality family life together. The anxiety prevailed at the time due to different confusing interpretations and anticipations towards the dangerous new virus. The supply chain of cigarettes was badly affected. The middle-class family structure never can accept women smoking and considers that being in contradiction to the respectable femininity that drives the reputation of the Indian family value system identifying the Nation. Hence, the daughter never had the courage to confess the fact of her smoking habits to her family. The son and the father could go out of the house though rarely and buy their pack of cigarettes, but the daughter couldn’t. Her thirst for cigarettes drove her into a constant tension with her parents, which also invited funny suspense from them about her. Lastly, to save the respectability of their family design, the family suppresses the daughter’s little chances of revolting against the patriarchy. They provide her the much craved pack of cigarettes but mitigating her objection against this imposition of the structure.

Awards:
• Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Direction; Cine-Parbon International Short Film Carnival and Awards 2022
• Best Director, West Bengal Short Film Festival 2023
Official Selection:
• 14th International Moving Film Festival 2021
• Serbest International Film Festival 2022
• Pune Short Film Festival 2023
• Siliguri Short and Documentary Film Festival 2022
• Vindhya International Film Festival Madhya Pradesh 2021
• Kolhapur International Short Film Festival; 2022
• Kalaburagi International Film Festival 2022
• International Film Festival of Ahmednagar (IFFA) 2022
• 4th South Asian Short Film Festival 2021

  • Mrinmoy Nandi
    Director
  • Mrinmoy Nandi
    Writer
  • Kaahon Kommunications
    Producer
  • Aratrika Sen
    Key Cast
    "Mithai"
  • Chandreyee Mitra
    Key Cast
    "Saswati"
  • Ashok Majumder
    Key Cast
    "Kamaleswar"
  • Pushan Dasgupta
    Key Cast
    "Pavel"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Dhumpaner Opokarita
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 57 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 5, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    11,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Mrinmoy Nandi

Qualification

Bachelor of Science, University of Calcutta

Post-Graduation in Cinematography, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI)


Nominations & Awards

Direction

SOMOYER JANALAGULI (Windows of Time) – a feature documentary (2021)
Official Selection
• Film Southasia, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2022
• Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, 2021
• 24th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2022
• Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions @ PinewoodStudios
• Cinemaking International Film Festival, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Honorable Mention
• Experimental Forum, 2022

DHUMPANER OPOKARITA (Smoking blocks…) - a short film (2021)
Awards:
• Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Direction; Cine-Parbon International Short Film Carnival and Awards 2022
• Best Director, West Bengal Short Film Festival 2023
Official Selection:
• 14th International Moving Film Festival 2021
• Serbest International Film Festival 2022
• Pune Short Film Festival 2023
• Siliguri Short and Documentary Film Festival 2022
• Vindhya International Film Festival Madhya Pradesh 2021
• Kolhapur International Short Film Festival; 2022
• Kalaburagi International Film Festival 2022
• International Film Festival of Ahmednagar (IFFA) 2022
• 4th South Asian Short Film Festival 2021

PIKLU- a short film
Best Film-1st Runner-Up & Best Cinematography Award, Cine-Parbon International Short Film Carnival and Awards 2020
Honourable Jury Mention, 10th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2020
Outstanding Achievement Award- Short Film & Editing, Pattaya International Film Festival 2020
Outstanding Achievement Award- Direction, Short Film, Editing and Winner Award- Short Script, Cinephilia Motion Pictures Festival 2020
Jury’s Special Mention, Beyond Earth 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
Outstanding Achievement Award- Rosebud International Film Festival
Honorable Jury Mention; Mumbai 8th Indian Cine Film Festival-20
Finalist, 10th Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF)
Finalist, Paradox of Fiction, International Film Festival 2020
Semi Finalist, Kalaburagi International Short Film festival 2020
Semi Finalist, Dreams International Film Festival (DIFF) 2020
13th Filmsaaz, Aligarh Muslim University
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
Best Global Shorts 2020
RedWood Film Festival 2020
Long Story Shorts - International Film Festival 2020
iFilms International Short Film Festival 2020
4th Moody Crab Film Fest 2020
Filmerra International Film & Web Series Festival 2020
PlayButton Short Film Festival 2020

SHOHORNAMA (Urban shorts)

Special Jury Mention, National Documentary Short Film Festival 2018
KHELNABATI (Play Things), Documentary

Silver Palm - Mexico International film festival, 2012

0110 International Digital Film Festival

International Documentary & Short Film Festival of Kerala

ANIMAR AAKASH - a short fiction film on gender politics prevails in rural India
Cinephile 2015

Cinematography

SUNDER JIBAN (Rajat Kamal, National Award in 2002, Best Short Fiction Film)

Significant Works as Cinematographer

Documentaries

MURMURS OF SILENCE. A Documentary on the Central Library. University of Calcutta
DIRT. An International Film. National Film Board, Canada, Production
SITA KAHINI. (A TALE OF SITA)
CHHINNA MAHAL. A cross-border Independent Film on
Chitmahals of India and Bangladesh
LEGENDS - a documentary film on MANNA DEY. Produced by HMV SA RE GA MA
SHABNAM. 30mins. A Documentary on THE FIRST WOMAN KAZI OF INDIA, for PSBT, India
A Documentary on THE SATRA MAHASABHA, ASSAM
URMI-CHANGEMAKER. A BBC series
MARITIME INDIA. A Documentary for a European Channel
AUDREY’S DRESS. A Documentary with DOMINIQUE
LAPIERRE for a French and a Spanish Channel
GHOST OF EMPIRE. A Documentary on the works of famous Irish Sculptor JOHN HENRY FOLEY for HISTORY CHANNEL

Feature Films

ANTAR BAHIR
MAHALAYA
BAROOD
JHUMURA
BASANTA UTSAV
TOBE TAI HOK
GHENTE GHAW
PA MA GA RE SAA
PURPLE HAZE

Short Film

DOUR (RUN)
SAHORE (IN THE CITY)
POISON
LOVE INTERLUDE
THE WINDOW
SUNDER JIBAN (National Award in 2003)

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.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Any attempts to question the respectable femininity can be curbed by any means to hail the core traditional family structure and preserve the cultural authority of the State through the women.