‘Some of my favourite Ray films were premiered in Berlin’

  • | Saturday | 11th February, 2017

KOLKATA: Director Amit V Masurkar 's "Newton" was selected for the Forum section of the ongoing Berlin Film Festival. Some of my favourite Ray films were premiered in Berlin. The Ray films that I love include "Sonar Kella", " Aranyer Din Ratri ", "Devi" and "Mahanagar".I haven't started work on the next film yet. Excerpts from an interview with Masurkar on taking "Newton" to Berlin:I dropped out of engineering to work in films at 20. The date will be announced soon.From what I remember, Satyajit Ray was a Berlin regular.

KOLKATA: Director Amit V Masurkar 's "Newton" was selected for the Forum section of the ongoing Berlin Film Festival. A total of five screenings of the film will be held at the festival. Masurkar, who had made his directorial debut with " Sulemani Keeda ", believes in the philosophy that the only way to make a film one believes in is to make it "regardless of the obstacles". Excerpts from an interview with Masurkar on taking "Newton" to Berlin:I dropped out of engineering to work in films at 20. I wasn't quite prepared for what lay ahead. After working with various people on several unrealised projects, I realised that the only way to make a film you believed in, was to make it- regardless of the obstacles. And so along with my friends who believed in me, I made my first film, "Sulemani Keeda", with a very low budget. The film did well online, after a brief festival run and limited theatrical release. That lead to my meeting with Manish Mundra- who liked the idea of "Newton" and backed it."Newton" is a story about a sincere, newbie government clerk who is sent on election duty to a remote polling booth in the Maoist controlled Dandakaranya jungle in Chhattisgarh. He tries his best to conduct free and fair elections despite the apathy of the security forces and the looming fear of a Maoist attack. Newton is the name of Rajkummar Rao's character.It's a political film with dry, dark humour- that is a genre which is very rarely explored in India. The film works on two levels. For an audience not exposed to what is happening in Chhattisgarh, or interested in politics, it's a straightforward story, with a shocking twist. For a discerning audience interested in politics, there are nuances and insights that they'll get and appreciate.Shooting in Chhattisgarh is challenging because there is no readymade infrastructure for shooting. But the talent pool of actors is immense. Some of our Gondi actors had never watched or heard of cinema but were as good as professional actors.We shot on the fringes of the Maoist controlled jungles, with actors who were in camouflage, carrying fake guns- so there was always a fear of getting mistaken for the real paramilitary. So we had to take care to ensure that everyone knew we were a film crew and had no other agenda!The rain tried to play spoilsport and it reduced our shooting time and increased our shooting days. But, we managed to shoot everything to our satisfaction, thanks to a patient and hardworking cast and crew.We plan to release the film in mid 2017. The date will be announced soon.From what I remember, Satyajit Ray was a Berlin regular. Some of my favourite Ray films were premiered in Berlin. The Ray films that I love include "Sonar Kella", " Aranyer Din Ratri ", "Devi" and "Mahanagar".I haven't started work on the next film yet. I'm looking for an idea which will start the next journey.

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