Opening Film / 6th Kolka Short Film Festival
 

 Synopsis
 A visual narration set in the mindscape of a young unmarried girl as she grooms herself for “the Marriage Market”. Her parents get busy with the complexities of matchmaking while she breaks up with her lover, an inspiring filmmaker who dreams of making a sequel to Satyajit Ray’s Charulata. Delving into deep contemplation, she shares her compromises of giving up her sensitive personal self to accommodate the suave, sophisticated social self imposed on her positing herself many a time, into Charulata’s predicaments of love, denial and sacrifice. But her spirit refuses to give up.

Program Note
 It is about two women, the protagonist of the film, a young woman who is about to get married and the heroine of the famous film of Satyajit Ray, Charulatha. The young woman is in love with a young man, a filmmaker, who is obsessed with the image and character of Ray’s Charulatha and is planning to make a sequel to it. It is the structure of the film and the young woman’s approach to the whole issue of love and marriage that makes this film unique. It also reveals another kind of woman, who we hope is a predecessor to other modern women. She does not weep when she is disillusioned. She accepts the disillusionment also as part of life and moves on. She knows that she and she alone would in future be able to take charge of herself and her physical and emotional needs. As for the form of the film it is very tight and frugal in images, dialogue and other aspects of filmmaking. It conveys a great deal through nuances and facial expressions. Moreover, it dares to take over from where Ray, an accomplished filmmaker stopped and create a sequel, this time from a woman’s point of view. It also shows that women are not happy any more with the closure that One could call it a bold alternative to Satyajit Ray’s Charulatha. Only a very young and adventurous filmmaker would dare to do this feat and it is this daring that the selection panel appreciated most of all. We felt that in the context of Indian film making, this is a departure both form and theme. (Vasanthi SANKARANARAYANAN)