Final-Film Festival-13-11-08.p65 - Directorate of Film Festivals

As a theatre enthusiast I had traveled extensively across myhomeland Bengal. The rich and varied landscape of Bengalcovered with rivers and verdant fields had always inspired thepainter in me. I was now eager to translate this to film.Time and again a story which kept coming to my mind wasEkti Nadir Naam by Sunil Gangopadhyay, a prolific poet and awriter from Bengal. I had read this story in my college days andit had left an indelible impact on me. The manner in which thewriter had woven the bureaucracy, religion & caste system ofBengal with an old man's struggle to rename a river in memoryof his young daughter was riveting.This was a story I wanted to tell, a story of a father who wasunlike any other father. A ather whose love for his daughterknew no bounds. But who would play the father? My first andlast choice was Mithun Chakraborty, a multi-award winning Indianactor, one of the most popular actors of the 80s. Miracle aftermiracle followed. He agreed to do the film even before I hadcompleted the script or put together the funds.For the daughterI had only one person in mind Shweta Prasad, a former childartiste with a National Award under her belt. We decided toshoot On Location. After much deliberation a remote village inBengal was decided upon. A wonderful, picturesque village seton the banks of the River Bhagirathi but hours away from anyhotel or store or hospital. Over the next 40 days the entire castand crew lived in the villagers' houses. It was bizarre but everyonehad a time of their lives. My dream was slowly and surely beingfulfilled…My dream is now ready to be presented to the audience, whowill tell me whether I could tell the tale of a river successfully.SYNOPSISGAFLA(Scam)35 mm/Colour/Hindi/127 minutes/EST'Gafla' is a story about ordinary people or rather an ordinaryyoung man, Subodh, in ordinary circumstances. Subodh startsout like any middle-class guy, with limited opportunities to surviveand go ahead. Perhaps he has a little more drive than the others,more energy and bigger dreams, but then, he is just a smart guy.Subodh's intentions are good and understandable in terms ofordinary ambitions.Subodh wants to make money, to be successful and enters thestock market. His brilliance makes him successful, but he is atthe mercy of big players. Faced with a choice of either followinga secondary career, dominated by big players or becoming a bigplayer himself, he opts for the latter but as an outsider, heshouldn't have become the biggest player of all. He begins butdoesn't know where to stop. His inexperience shows as he doesnot pause to strengthen the base of political and institutionalsupport before rising further.16 17