The press conference for the film Avijatrik took place in the presence of director Subhrajit Mitra, producer Gaurang Jalan, Bickram Ghosh, Arjun Chakraborty, Ditipriya, Biswanath Basu, Ujjaini, Shaheb Chatterjee, and others. The film was screened at 26^th KIFF.

The plot takes off from where “The Apu Trilogy” had ended in 1959 with Apur Sansar. The story revolves around the bond between a father (Apu) and his 6-year-old son (Kajol). The film explores the pure interpersonal relationships to recreate the magic of Apu– sharing adventures with his beloved son, Kajol.

Arjun Chakraborty plays Apu in the film. “My director did not want me to copy any other actor. So I did not have that much pressure on me during acting. However, after the shoot was over, some pressure developed due to the fact that Satyajit Ray made the earlier films and Soumitra Chatterjee had acted as Apu” said the actor.

The music of the film is by Bickram Ghosh. “I started where my Guruji Pandit Ravi Shankar left off. So that was a huge burden and pressure for me. I had to recreate new music that will resonate with the audience and yet had to retain the magic and charm of the music created by my Guruji. I have tried to do that with music. And when the youngsters in the audience came up to me and said they liked the music, I felt happy that my hard work paid off” said the music director.

Avijatrik has been shot in B&W at 68 locations to retain the rich aesthetic flavor that compliments its backdrop of 1940’s India. “When I was thinking about the film’s story, my thought was in black and white. So when I told this to my producer, he also said that the film must be made in black and white to retain the magic” said the director.

The film is co-presented by Bhandarkar Entertainment & NCKS Explorations.

The makers of the film Avijatrik are happy as Avijatrik is the only Bengali film to make it to 51st IFFI (in Panorama) and 26th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) in the competition section.

Priyanka Dutta