Private Project

Flight

Jaya has seen better days. She is diabetic, has high blood pressure, and lives alone. Nor is her job as a school teacher fulfilling. Now, she lives only for her son, Adi, who has moved to another city for work, and is about to visit home. "Flight" is the story of her desire to meet her son, and what happens when that desire meets an unexpected obstacle.

  • Laksh Banthia
    Director
  • Laksh Banthia
    Writer
  • Bhavya Sethi
    Producer
  • Geeta Agrawal Sharma
    Key Cast
    "Jaya"
    Laapataa Ladies, All India Rank, 12th Fail, OMG 2
  • Mayurakshi Sen
    Key Cast
    "Samira"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 26, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    4,120 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Bengali, English, Hindi
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.66:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute
Director Biography - Laksh Banthia

Laksh is interested in exploring themes such as visibility, alienation and shame in contemporary society. This interest emerged through his ongoing training at SRFTI, but really takes root in his experience of watching films alone in theaters since the age of eight. In college, apart from studying English Literature, he engaged with cinema by completing a concentration in film studies, founding the film society, and making a short film for his undergraduate dissertation. For him, cinema equals story, and he hopes to tell stories with emotional authenticity and visual flourish.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The story of ‘Flight’ has personal roots.

Like Jaya and my mother, many middle-aged Indian women in the middle-income bracket suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure. They also suffer from centering their lives around the men in their family. I believe this physiological and psychological reality has deep social determinants, and as such is relatable to a wider audience.

Through ‘Flight’, I want to put forth the broader question: What and whom should one invest in? Having spent a lifetime in self-neglect, Jaya decides to revisit what she wants for herself.

In this sense, ‘Flight’ is a story about the death of one desire and the birth of another. Jaya’s desires switch. As such, our film also shifts in form: from seemingly slice-of-life to a suspense with high stakes. The symbol of an airplane also represents this switch. From desiring her son to fly in, by the end of the film, Jaya desires to fly out. This duality in form and content is what propelled me to make ‘Flight’, and we hope it attracts viewers from both the subcontinent and around the world.