Have to play a responsible role as an artiste in todays socio-political time: Filmmaker Suman Mukhopadhyay

“Socio-political movements are omnipresent in my existence, in my psyche,” says National Award-winning filmmaker Suman Mukhopadhyay. He also says that as a responsible artiste, it is his job to show the true reflection of society-sometimes as the main plot or through the subliminal way-without thinking much about the after-effects.

“I think I am always aware of socio-political paradigms or movements happening in the society and as an artiste , I always try to find my response to such debate or context so it becomes part of my storytelling. I cannot say that I can be devoid or I can turn my face away from socio-political issues which are burning in our times,” Mukhopadhyay told Opoyi.

“They are always omnipresent in pervading my existence, my psyche. They are part of my existence so whenever I articulate through my films, it comes across. My works always talk about those reasons. Sometimes in my films, it comes as a foreground and very strongly they attack a certain subject and sometimes it sits sublimely but it is omnipresent because as a person, I am also aware and I participate in a political issue. I comment on them and I talk about them so I have to play a responsible role as an artiste in today’s time,” added the filmmaker.

Giving an example of his under-production film ‘Paradise in Flames’ , set in Kashmir, he expresses his uncertainty on how people authorities will take it once the movie is out. However, he thinks that something needs to be told, he will talk about it even though the consequences can be very dire.

“If I can cinematically articulate my content then I will try my best to film it even though I know this can bring me to some kind of conflict with the authorities,” he said.

Mukhopadhyay’s Hindi feature film, Nazarband (Captive) is set for the World Premiere at the largest and most significant film festival in Asia, 25th Busan International Film Festival. Originally set to open on October 8, Busan Film Festival will be held October 21-30 both offline and online.

Inspired by a short story by noted Bengali writer Ashapurna Devi, Nazarband marks the debut of Indira Tiwari as Vasanti and Tanmay Dhanania as Chandu. The film is a visceral look at survival and a heartfelt exploration into the depths of companionship and the meaning of rejection and acceptance.

Mukhopadhyay, who has previously directed films like ‘Herbert’, ‘Asamapta’, ‘Posham Pa’, and ‘Kangal Malsat’, says that he always tries to narrate the stories about the people who are in the margins.

“Even my theatre practice, I looked at the society with the length lens which brought the marginal voices while making the films in the foreground. In ‘Nazarband’, the two characters who are protagonists are immigrants in the city of Kolkata and how they navigate through the small operation oppressions of the metropolitan metropolis is the story. In my film the third protagonist is the city of Kolkata,” he said.

The filmmaker has won the National film award for his 2005 released film ‘Herbert’ and was conferred with a script development award from Motion Picture Association, USA and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Brisbane in 2017.

Talking about Busan, he says that it’s a major boost for independent films like ‘Nazarband’.

“These festivals are very important because the entire global film community scans a few festivals very closely and one of them is Busan. They put you in a very important foreground. We worked for two years but I was a bit apprehensive about what will be the future of this film after the pandemic struck us and then this Busan news,” said the filmmaker.