By Utpal Borpujari / New Delhi
A multilingual compendium film titled “III Smoking Barrels” and comprising three shorts that depicts the devastating impact of the gun culture on the common people of Northeast India, will soon have its commercial release in Italy.
Directed by Assam-born and Mumbai-based debutant director Sanib Dey, the film had its world premiere at the 38th Durban International Film Festival, South Africa, recently, and will soon have its Eureopean premiere in the International Competition section of the 66th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg, Germany, followed by its Indian premiere at the International Film Festival of Kerala in early December.
The film has been picked by European distribution company Pantera Film for commercial release in theatres across Italy. The Indian release is slated for early 2018.
The selection of the film in the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg is considered a big honour due to the fact that the debut films of legendary directors like Satyajit Ray, Francois Truffaut, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Lars von Trier, Fateh Akin, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Jim Jarmusch were showcased at this prestigious festival. It will be for the first time in 5 years that an Indian film got selected at this festival.
“III Smoking Barrels” explores a different stage of human life in each of its three segments. The first story is about a girl child, who on escaping from a rebel camp hijacks a car, transpiring in a journey that unravels her plight and prods deep into traumatic issues of children involved in armed conflicts.
The next story is about a boy, a drug peddler, and his journey into the drug world. It simultaneously explores the life of his grieving, widowed mother. The third story is about a migrant, an elephant poacher, who ends up killing 15 elephants to fend for himself and his young wife. It explores his treacherous life and the murky powers that control this abhorrent business.
The film, says Dey, is inspired by true events and in order to keep the narrative as realistic as possible, much like Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Hollywood masterpiece “Babel”, it seamlessly uses multiple languages, viz., English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Nagamese & Manipuri.
Dey, who has been working in the Mumbai Film & TV industry for over a decade, has passionately spent two years in filming “III Smoking Barrels” across the beautiful but difficult terrains of North East India.
Produced by Amit Malpani’s Malpani Talkies, the film stars Bollywood and Tollywood actors like Indraneil Sengupta, Subrat Dutta, Amrita Chattopadhyay and Nalneesh Neel as well as gifted actors from the North East like Mandakini Goswami, Rajni Basumatary and Bijou Thaangjam, among others. Young and exciting new comers like Shiny Gogoi, Siddharth Boro and Vikram Gogoi round up the stellar cast with powerful roles in the film.
National Award winner Anurag Saikia has composed the background score in collaboration with Hollywood & Italian music composer Michele Josia.
The story & screenplay has been written by Sanjib Dey, while Tasadduk Ahmed & Dev Gupta, have penned the dialogues. Former Femina Miss India finalist Sukalpa Das is the costume designer of the film and Phatik Baruah, a veteran in the business has helmed the art direction department.
Devabrot Chaliha is the Sound Designer, while three-time National Award winner Alok De is the Sound Mixing Engineer. The film has been edited by Praveen Kathikuloth, who has edited the hit Bollywood film “Naam Shabana” and is currently working on Neeraj Pandey’s upcoming film “Aiyaary”. Anil B. Akki is the Director of Photography. It is worth mentioning that the large crew of the film comprises people from almost every state in the country, with representation from every North Eastern state.