Waiting For Dawn

Waiting For Dawn (Bhor Er Oppekha) revolves around the mundane city life of a working-class family in Calcutta. Yearning for companionship in his tedious life, middle-aged bachelor, Kousik, is also endlessly chasing an absconding shopkeeper to collect the payment for the goods he’d sold to him. His mother, Karuna, is coping with the recent loss of her husband. She has just sacked her domestic helper for being too irritable, and is having a desperately tough time in finding a new one who fits her finicky standards. 

  • Akash Sharma
    Director
    The Mute Call, Wedding Preparations in the Country, The Fall, And He's Smoking Marlboros
  • Akash Sharma
    Writer
    The Mute Call, Wedding Preparations in the Country, The Fall, And He's Smoking Marlboros
  • Akash Sharma
    Producer
    The Mute Call, Wedding Preparations in the Country, The Fall, And He's Smoking Marlboros
  • Great Indian Noise Pictures
    Producer
    The Mute Call, Wedding Preparations in the Country, The Fall, And He's Smoking Marlboros
  • Adhikari Kousik
    Key Cast
    "Kousik (Son)"
  • Aloknanda Roy
    Key Cast
    "Karuna (Mother)"
    Kanchenjunga by Satayajit Ray
  • Debashis Dasgupta
    Key Cast
    "Boss"
  • Bibhas Roy Chowdhury
    Key Cast
    "Office colleague"
  • Madhumita Kundu
    Key Cast
    "Girl outside the paint shop"
  • Bidisha Gupta
    Key Cast
    "Prostitute"
  • Sohini Biswas
    Key Cast
    "Domestic helper"
  • Shubhadip Paul
    Key Cast
    "Interviewee"
  • Sandeep Gn Yadav
    Cinematographer
  • Anuj Pratim Nath
    Cinematographer
  • Prashant Deshmane
    Art Direction
  • Satish Ashok Potdar
    Art Direction
  • Dibyo
    Sound Design and Mix
  • Shilajit
    Sound Design and Mix
  • Sourav Burman
    Colorist
  • Akash Sharma
    Editing
    The Mute Call, Wedding Preparations in the Country, The Fall, And He's Smoking Marlboros
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Bhor Er Oppekha
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 18 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    33,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital Arri Alexa
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Akash Sharma

Akash Sharma is an independent film director and editor based in Kolkata, India. He has studied filmmaking (MFA) in the Sarajevo Film Academy's film.factory program under the mentorship of Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr and German maestro Fred Kelemen. He has been tutored by the likes of Lav Diaz, Zeki Demirkubuz, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Jacques Ranciere, Abel Ferrara, Cristian Mungiu and Atom Egoyan. Akash also worked as 1st assistant director in India with filmmaker Aditya Vikram Sengupta (on his second feature film, ‘Jonaki’), who won the best debut film award in Venice Days 2014 for his film 'Labor of Love'.

Akash’s first short film, 'The Mute Call' (2015), travelled to various national and international festivals including the South African International Film Festival (Rapid Lion), Sanford International Film Festival (US), InShorts Film Festival (UK), Goa Short Film Festival, International Film Festival of South Asia (Canada) and Kolkata Short Film Festival (Best Film).

His second short film, 'Wedding Preparations in the Country' (2017), produced in Bosnia, was in competition at the International and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK 2017), SiGNS Film Festival Kochi, Kalpanirjhar Film Festival (Kolkata), Viva Film Festival (Bosnia), Jahorina Film Festival (Bosnia), Tuzla Film Festival (Bosnia), Slow Film Festival (London, UK) and Kolkata Short Film Festival (Best Film). The film was picked up by Gonella Productions (France) for worldwide distribution.

Akash’s third short film, ‘The Fall’ (2018), also produced in Bosnia, was screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival 2018, and was also selected to compete in short fiction section in the Laceno D’Oro Film Festival in Italy in 2018.

Akash has also been a visiting/guest faculty in Chandigarh University’s film studies and filmmaking departments. He has been covered by ‘The Times of India’ Pune edition (India's best-selling newspaper) as one of the most promising young filmmakers in the country in 2014. He has also been covered by the best magazine for independent filmmaking in India, ‘Film India Worldwide’ run by Ms.Uma DCunha. His films ‘Wedding Preparations in the Country’ and ‘The Fall’ were featured in the magazine in the March- April and July-August issue of 2018. He has also been featured on regional TV channel, Mon TV, which showcased his film, The Mute Call, followed by an interview/ Q & A on regional television.

Akash graduated in Media & Communication (Audio-Visual Specialization) in 2014 from Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication (UG), Pune, India. He now works and runs an independent film production house, Great Indian Noise Pictures, in Kolkata. He is currently in the final stages of post-production of his first full-length feature film, Waiting For Dawn (Bhor Er Oppekha) shot in Calcutta/Kolkata, India.

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Director Statement

Waiting For Dawn (Bhor Er Oppekha) tries to document the mundane city life of a working-class family in the city of Calcutta/Kolkata. While coping with the loss of a recently departed family member, the film expresses the characters’ loneliness, interdependence, socio-economic and emotional struggles in a burgeoning metropolis, which increasingly isolates and limits the individual because of its absurd constructs.