Mumbai, Feb 13 (PTI) Filmmaker Soumyajit Majumdar says the idea behind his debut film “#Homecoming” is to bring attention to theatre, which he describes as a “cool” art form.
The youth buddy musical drama revolves around a group of friends from Kolkata who reunite after seven years on the occasion of Durga Puja at their old theatre rehearsal space which is in danger of being converted into a heritage hotel, according to the official synopsis.
Being from a theatre background himself, the Kolkata-born director said, theatre is a “very cool medium” which is often perceived to be serious format and hence gets lost among the many options of entertainment.
“We are trying to bring attention to the medium of theatre through our film. Our film production is a homage to the community. We want to express theatre as a medium of dissent and communication. We have highlighted theatre elements in the film. The interpersonal dynamics of a theatre group is the main protagonist,” Majumdar told PTI in an interview.
“Theatre in this age and time has to be contemporary and align with current times; otherwise with other forms of entertainment, it will be difficult for theatre to sustain,” he added.
“#Homecoming” stars Sayani Gupta, Tushar Pandey, Plabita Borthakur, Hussain Dalal and Soham Majumdar, among others.
The 31-year-old director said the film draws from his own experiences with theatre.
“I have grown up in the ’90s East Kolkata’s generation and we have been indulged in the arts from school. Later I studied film graduation, did theatre, and acted in films. Some of my friends and I started a group called Lok Ok Arts Collective, whose maiden production is ‘#Homecoming’”.
But ‘#Homecoming’ is not a story about ‘Lok Ok Arts Collective’, he added.
“The characters are fictional but the world is true. However, it is a life that I have seen, observed, known or has happened to me. And I think the best of writing comes when you combine all of this,” Majumdar, who also serves as a writer and producer of the movie, said.
The story is set in Kolkata and Majumdar, who has acted in Bengali films like “Family Album”, “Har Har Byomkesh”, and “Kiriti Roy”, said he wanted to show the city in its truest form in his directorial debut.
“Being raised in Kolkata, the city has injected its culture and ethos in me. It is a cosmopolitan city by nature and cosmopolitan language is a tool in the film, and we have two languages spoken in the movie. Kolkata is a feel, it is not just about the Howrah Bridge but about people of the city, we have shown all of this and more,” he said.
“#Homecoming” was selected for NDFC Lab, South Asia’s largest film market collection, in 2019 and Majumdar said he feels blessed to have had this opportunity.
The reason behind a hashtag in the title, Majumdar said, is that the current generation is about hashtags and social media.
On a concluding note, he shared he intends to make a prequel to his “#Homecoming”.
“‘#Homecoming’ will get a prequel. We are in talks with an OTT platform,” Majumdar said. PTI KKP RDS RDS SHD SHD
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