Uronchondi is all about road, sky, and nature: Director Abhishek Saha
The media talks mostly about urban people; through this movie I wanted to talk about rural/village people and their problems. Whether urban or rural, the emotions of people are more or less the same, said Abhishek Saha, Director of the Bengali film Uronchondi –showcased in the Indian Panorama Section at the 49th International Film Festival of India in Goa. Saha was addressing a press conference today 22 November, 2018, along with actor Amartya Roy and lead actress Rajnandini Paul of the film.
The film is the story of three women from three generations who desperately need a break from their life situation. Saha said the film is basically about the spirit of life, about the need for a break, and freedom from day to day life. The Director said the entire film is shot on the road – it is a road film where there are no walls, it is all about sky, road and nature, he elaborated.
Picking up from where Saha left, actor Amartya explained why he believes the film is important. “The reason why this film is important in today’s world is that it talks about fringe characters from society who are unspoken about. My character is from Jharkhand border and Rajnandini Paul (actress) is from Purulia. A lot of films are made about urban people and about urban crises, many of which may not even be real, whereas rural people face quite a few problems which often remain unspoken about. He further said the director did not want to be preachy, but just wanted to present his perspective, leaving it open for everyone to take it as it is. The filmmaking process was quite interesting, he said, – it was shot outdoors in a short time span of just 13 days. Always on the run, t+he whole team is running from location to location in a lorry which I learnt to drive within 30 days as a training for this movie. What I found interesting was that for this movie, I had to completely change myself from an urban guy to a lorry driver. As a debutant actor, I think that is what is most liberating”.
Agreeing with Amartya, Rajnandini said, “It was a great opportunity for debutants like us to work in this movie. It is very liberating to play someone else and be that person in such a convincing manner that people think that you have not played it but you were that person itself. We all went through lot of mental and emotional homework in playing that character.”
