25 Apr 2017  |   10:32pm IST

From Goa to Hong Kong: Hitting the big screen

Miransha Naik, a Goan film director, shot to fame with his first feature film, ‘Juze’, which recently had its world premiere at the 41st Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). The film received rave reviews and is now heading on a European film festival tour before making its way back to Goa. Café catches up with Miransha

Dolcy D’Cruz

Goan film director Miransha Naik has still not

gotten over

the excitement of watching his first feature film premier

e

on

a grand stage at the 41st Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF).

The festival played host to people from across the globe and Miransha’s

realistic portrayal of a village and its issues

seemed to have

touched the hearts of

the diverse audience.

Originally from Quepem, Miransha

has

now made Benaulim his base. However, with his current schedule, he is living out of his suitcase. “The experience was wonderful. After receiving great reviews, the film is now invited for several other film festivals across the world. We will be going to important film festivals in Europe first, then North America and then back to India for

the

Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) Film Festival. We are concentrating on few but bigger festivals in Europe first,” says Miransha, a student of film making at Whistling Woods Film Academy.

After his course, Miransha

went on to write for a production house. Through his film banner Thin Air Productions, he has written and directed two short film, ‘Shezari’ and ‘Ram’. ‘Juze’ is his first feature film. The 93

-

minute

film

stars

Rushikesh Naik, Sudesh Bhise, Barkha Naik, Gauri Kamat and Prashanti Talpankar. Written and directed by Miransha, the film was

a

India-France-Netherlands co-production by Thin Air, Three Rivers, Kepler Films and Cine-Sud Promotion. Sidharth Yaji is the

film’s

executive producer

while

Abhiraj Rawale is the director of photography

; the music of the film is by

Pierre Aviat. “The film would not be complete with

out

the support of the people of Guirdolim as the village played an important role in the film over the 40

-

day shoot. It was like a dream shooting there. The story is based on true events

. I had my characters in mind and built my story around my observations

,” explains Miransha.

The film was shot in Goa and a rough cut was presented at the Film Bazaar as Miransha was looking at an opportunity to find producers. “It was a fantastic experience working with the producers from France and Netherlands. France

is an artistic country and the team from there

worked on the film

even on weekends. The post production for the film was completed in Europe and the sound itself took nearly three months. I have two more scripts ready and I hope to work on future projects with the same team,” he adds.

The

film

is based around exploited migrant workers and their abusive slumlord, Juze. Though the film is in Konkani with a few lines in Hindi, the film made an impact on the audience in Hong Kong. “

A

s I

was present f

or the first screening of the film, I kept wondering whether they will get the culture of the film. Surprisingly, the

y

understood the film and waited for the Q & A sessions after both the screenings.

That’s when I realised that t

he language doesn’t matter

. As a Goan, I love Konkani,

but seeing it on a large screen,

being listened to by people from across the world, really made

me proud,” concludes the young director.