On November 11, Prasun Chatterjee’s debut feature film Dostojee opens in theatres in India after touring 26 nations and winning 8 international prizes. The movie had its world premiere at the 65th BFI London Film Festival, which also hosted Satyajit Ray’s Apur Sansar’s premiere 62 years prior.

The story of Dostojee revolves around two eight-year-old boys who experience a growing religious divide after the destruction of the Babri Mosque in India. Palash and Safikul are eight-year-olds who belong to two warring religious communities. Palash belongs to a Hindu Brahmin family and Safikul is the son of a Muslim weaver. Due to fate, separation becomes their friendship’s destiny. How do these young kids meet with this farewell?

The film shows the negative effects of the fights among the people and welcoming a cordial world for the kids.

This is the first feature film in Bengali and the sixth in India to get the CIFEJ Prize from UNESCO. Other notable honors for DOSTOJEE include the Golden SHIKA, the top prize at the Nara International Film Festival, which comes with a $1 million US funding grant for Prasun to develop a movie in Japan. Malaysia. Golden Global Awards, the top honor at the Sharjah International Film Festival, and the Best Film Award by the Arts Council of England’s Best Film Award in the UK-Asian Film Festival are some of the other laurels.

The cast of the film consists of:

Palash – Asik Shaikh

Safikul – Arif Shaikh

Palash’s Mother – Jayati Chakraborty

Safikul’s Sister – Swatilekha Kundu

Private Tutor – Anujoy Chattopadhyay

The film has been directed by Prasun Chatterjee.

The background music has been composed by Satyaki Banerjee.

Presented by Prosenjit Chatterjee, the film is produced by Kathak Talkies. It has been co-produced by Prosenjit Ranjan Nath, Soumya Mukhopadhyay, and Ivy Yu-Hua Shen.

Do not miss this tale of friendship in troubled times.

Priyanka Dutta