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Devaki director miffed with film producer
The world premiere of Devaki, a film on women's rights, went awry with its director alleging that the film being screened was not its original version.
The world premiere of Devaki, a hard-hitting film on women's rights, went awry with its director alleging that the film being screened was not its original version.
"It pains me to say that the version being screened here is not the one I wanted," director Bappaditya Bandopadhyay said at the premiere of the film yesterday.
"At least five per cent of the film has been edited out by the producers and they have introduced a commentary in the film which spoils its effect," the young filmmaker told PTI at the Osian's Cinefan film festival here.
Bandopadhyay said he was unaware why the changes had been made without his consent.
"It's not a question of how much of the film was cut. As a filmmaker, it pains me if even a single shot is done away with," he said.
The director also said he was taking a break from making films - at least for five years - but did not specify whether his decision had anything to with the film being tampered with.
Devaki, based on a true-life incident of a woman being auctioned, stars Perizaad Zorabian and Suman Ranganathan in pivotal roles. Shot at various locations in Jharkhand, the film was completed within a year's time.
The bilingual film, makes use of a number of actors who appeared in most of Bandhopadhyay's previous works.
"For example, Devaki's 70-year-husband in the film is played by an actor who also appears in my film Kantatar. I like to work with my own group of actors for every film I do," the award-winning director said.
The film Devaki explores how freedom of choice is as much a chimera for women in the rural areas as it is for the educated class.
Both Devaki (Ranganathan) who lives in a village and the city-bred Nandini (Zorabian) find themselves betrayed and violated by men close to them. Devaki's life takes a turn for the worse when she is married off to a septuagenarian farmer to pay off a debt.
Repeatedly raped by her brother-in-law, she is eventually auctioned off by the village panchayat as punishment for loving another man.
Bandopadhyay's second film, Kantatar (Barbed Wire), is one of only two Indian nominations in the Asian competition at the film festival.
