Jharokh, a feature-length film (primarily silent) is slated to release in India. Aneek Chaudhuri directs the film that has travelled to festivals in Melbourne, Boston, Italy, Austria, and Dhaka. Jharokh is an anthology of three tales on women which depict the Mahabharata from Draupadi’s perspective. The film will now be released on Fox Corporation’s TUBI TV in countries like India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. The film recently premiered in Vienna, Austria, hosted by Austrian director, Bernhard Kammel.
Jharokh is a take on Mahabharata from the perspective of today's women. The film is an anthology of three tales depicting three women confined to the same room, not necessarily at the same time, and their struggle to escape in search of a better life. The escape is out of compulsion rather than shying away from ordinary problems. Jharokh aka Ventilator is questioning the Mahabharata.
"I thought that it was time to be responsible and portray my opinions on this topic," says Aneek.
Jharokh stars Usha Banerjee, Husne Shabnam, and Ipsita Kundu as the three women in the film. The camera is helmed by Soumya Barik and the director himself. The film is written, edited, and directed by Aneek Chaudhuri. “The film is a labour of love for me, and I believe for the whole team as well. It took us a couple of years to release it for the worldwide audiences and we are delighted. The whole cast, led by Usha Banerjee, has performed brilliantly in the film,” says Aneek. The music of the film is composed by Fabio Anastasi, who is an Italian composer. "The shooting experience was hectic, alarming but good in the end. First of all, doing such a film in India is always tough where most of the stakeholders do not resonate with your thinking process. And, I had to shoot with minimal resources too in order to make it a complete venture. However, I am thankful to be a part of such a great team. They made my work easier, I would say. But I had to go through a lot of hindrances, be it monetary or creative," adds Aneek.
Usha Banerjee, whose performance has been recently nominated in the Five Continents Film Festival, said: “The film has been directed with a thoughtful and clear vision. I am indeed happy that the film is being received so well, globally. Hopefully, the international acclaim will open up more avenues for us in the future.”
“Any epic evolves with time; so has Mahabharata! There have been a lot of things composed in Mahabharata which must have evolved with age, shedding a lot of misogyny along with it. Jharokh is a minute attempt in projecting the same. First of all, Jharokh is a film that fits in the ‘Slow Cinema’ genre and therefore, it was tough to find a suitable OTT to release it. In India, it was even tougher! Thankfully, FILMHUB came forward and collaborated with us for distributing the film. My takeaway from the film is that I am loving the success attached to it. I have been able to reach audiences with my bit of personal cinema," says Aneek.
