The 48th
edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) featured great films from across
the world, and Goan language and culture were also offered a special spot for
the festival. In a special section, Goan filmmakers presented their films like
‘Mahaprayan’, a feature film produced by Abhay Jog, ‘Marisoul’, a non-feature
film produced by Suyash Kamat, ‘Zuzari’, a non-feature film directed by Mandar
Talauliker, and ‘Tiffin Box’, a non-feature film produced by Brijesh Kakodkar.
Miransha Naik’s ‘Juze’ was the only Goan film to be selected for the Indian
Panorama section of the festival.
Goan film director Miransha Naik was waiting for the opportunity
to screen his feature film, ‘Juze’, in his home state, and IFFI provided him
with the perfect platform. The film, which has been to several film festivals
in India and abroad, was screened in the Indian Panorama category at IFFI. “I
was very happy with the projection of the film at IFFI but I spent most of the
time at Film Bazaar. It was extremely important for me that the film was
screened in Goa with the local audience and local language. I was excited and
nervous at the same time. I will be releasing the film after editing a few
scenes and receiving the censor certificate,” says Miransha.
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Brijesh Kakodkar
directed the film, ‘Tiffin Box’, which was screened in the Goan film section.
The story revolves around Caitu, played by John D’Silva, who is suppressed by
his boss and is waiting for an opportunity to break away and get out of the
village. “The screening of the film had a few technical issues as the film was
not playing smoothly. However, there was a good amount of film lovers in the
theatre even though it was one of the first shows of the day at 9am. The film
is a feel good movie and I was happy that it was appreciated by the people. It
was nice to see people walk out of the theatre with hope. This screening was
like a premiere because this was the first screening of the film,” says
Brijesh. The story of the film is by Supraj Kerkar.
Speaking about the
future of the film, he says, “We are going to submit the film for international
and national film festivals. ‘Tiffin Box’ was the only non-feature film in the
Goan film category. Since the duration of the film is 27 minutes, the film
cannot be screened in a theatre, but we will have special screenings, on
request.”
‘Mahaprayan’, the
first uncut movie in Konkani language, was premiered in the Goan film section
of IFFI 2017. The movie is about Tulsidas, who is forced to take his wife’s
body back to the village after the hospital authorities deny him any help.
Abhay Jog, the producer of the film, was thrilled with the IFFI experience and
also gave credit to the Entertainment Society of Goa. “This was a great honour
for my team and me for being recognised at IFFI 2017. The USB of our film is
that it is the first ‘uncut’ or ‘one-shot’ film ever made in the Konkani film
industry. In fact, there are just 20 one-shot films in the world, making
‘Mahaprayan’ the 21st film. The entire film was shot in one take, without any
retakes and editing. We had to do our homework before we went on set. The film
covers a journey of 2-4 km of actual village (Savarde in Sattari taluka). The
film was shot on a camera called ‘Red Dragon’ with the technical crew coming in
from Pune,” says Abhay.
The film will be
screened shortly at Ravindra Bhavan, Sanquelim. “IFFI was a nice experience and
a proud moment for us to get such a platform. Ninety-eight per cent of our cast
was Goan. It was wonderful to interact with the delegates and film lovers at
the festival,” he adds.
‘Zuzari’
piqued the interest of youngsters at the festival, who didn’t know about the
freedom revolution in Goa. Speaking about the docu-drama, director Mandar
Talauliker says, “We got very good feedback for the film, which is based on the
life experiences of Mohan Ranade, a noted Goan freedom fighter. It was
excellent to see the younger generation asking questions about the freedom
struggle. We worked really hard on this film. The screening went well but the
subtitles were not properly displayed. Half of the English subtitles were
getting cut on the screen,” says Mandar, whose overall experience at the
festival was great.
