Director Nehal Ahmed with his film’s poster in Dhanbad on Sunday. (Gautam Dey)

Move over, Rowdy Rathore.

The thinking man’s cinema will get a boost in Dhanbad with a new film society that promises to screen classics of Satyajit Ray, François Roland Truffaut and others.

An initiative of young filmmakers of the coal belt, Dhanbad Film Society will soon be a reality. On Sunday, filmmakers such as Nehal Ahmed, Nasim Kazam, Kamlesh Chaurasia, Sanjay Nayak, Uttam Chaudhary, Naresh Chandra Vishwakarma and Vinod Vishwakarma held a meeting on the details of its launch.

Why is a film society needed in Dhanbad?

“Vulgarity in Bhojpuri and Khorha movies has prompted us to take this step. We want people to see the works of movie greats. Films are not just about entertainment, they are about issues too,” Ahmed said.

To prove his point, his short film Masoom Chappal was screened at Tetutallah Ground. In just 29 minutes, it showed the plight of villagers in Naxalite-affected areas of Jharkhand.

“A tribal girl wants a pair of slippers from her father, a daily labourer. Somehow, the poor man collects money for the slippers, but on the day he buys them, the child becomes a victim to a landmine, losing both legs. The new slippers are useless,” he summed up.

The film’s gritty realism bagged the film top honours at the short film festival Super Shorts-2012 on May 19-20 in Jamshedpur. Organised by The Society for Promotion of Professional Excellence and Media Mantra, the film was one among 83 entries.

Ahmed said that the idea germinated during his student days at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, from where he completed his postgraduate diploma in TV production and direction in 2006.

He executed the idea in Dhanbad with the help of Jharkhand-based producer Kumar B. Mohan. “The film was made at a cost of only Rs 30,000. I didn’t want to spend too much money, anyway. I believed in the power of my idea,” he said.