Mainak Bhaumik’s Ekannoborti turned one this November. The film, streaming on Hoichoi, is about a broken family that is forced by the matriarch to come together for Durga Puja, when skeletons come tumbling out of the closet as secrets come exploding to the surface, amidst festivities, fights and bonding, with a chaotic film crew thrown into the mix.

“It’s a reminder to us all that one could be going through a divorce and a midlife crises and have two daughters, one dealing with her toxic relationship and the other her weight issues, but if they all come together as a family in a festival, sometimes things can get better. It exposes what really goes on behind the locked doors of an average ‘happy’ household,” said Mainak.

When he started making films in his 20s, youth-centric stories came naturally to him. “But now post-40, I feel ready to delve into the emotionally complex world of drama and family that drew me to Bengali cinema to begin with. Growing up in New York, far away from my extended family in Calcutta, as a lonely mixed-breed (half bheto-Bangali-half American) I used to stake out daily outside a tiny Indian video store in Jackson Heights, waiting for Rituparno Ghosh’s latest film to release. As I watched Utsab, I was struck at such a personal level as it was a story of a family much like mine. For the first time I found myself identifying, embracing, loving and enjoying who and what I was brought up into,” said Mainak.