Just head for Kalidas Rangalaya between December 5 and December 7 if offbeat movies are your cup of tea. Hirawal theatre group would organise the sixth edition of a three-day film festival for such movies.
Among the movies to watch out for, Fandry deserves special mention. A beautiful romantic story, which highlights the discrimination faced by people of lower castes, has been showcased in Fandry, which won the grand jury prize in the Mumbai International Film Festival and Indira Gandhi Award for Best Film Director at the 61st National Film Awards this year.
Jabya, a boy from a Scheduled Class family, falls in love with classmate Shalu from an upper caste family. Jabya tries to hide from Shalu that he comes from a lower caste family and the work he and his family do for survival.
“Our film festival is different from others because we mainly showcase offbeat movies and documentary films. The best thing about our festival is that we give people an opportunity to interact with the directors of the films that are screened,” said Abhinav, one of the members of the Hirawal theatre group.
He added: “Apart from Fandry, Ai Mrityu Upatyoka Jar Desh Na, a Bengali movie, would be screened on the inaugural day of the film festival. Cine buffs would get a chance to interact with the directors of both the movies.”
While Fandry has been directed by Nagraj Manjule (directorial debut), the Bengali film director is Pavel. A painting exhibition, dedicated to Bengali painter Zainul Abedin, would also be organised on December 5. The exhibition would be inaugurated by writer-cum-political analyst Anand Teltumbde.
Footprints in the Desert (a film directed by Balaka Ghosh), Gulabi Gang directed by Nishtha Jain and Muzaffarnagar Baki Hai directed by Nakul Sahni, would also be part of the film festival.
“The 2013 release Malyalam film, Fabricated, which deals with the issue of undertrials and fabricated cases on human rights activists in the country, would be screened on the concluding day of the festival. The entry in this festival is free,” said Abhinav.
