“I never thought that Hawa will be so popular when I was making the film. But it turned out to be a huge success. And now I am worried about my second film. Will that be as successful as this one? Will that film receive the same amount of love? This is what is going on in my head right at the moment” said Bangladeshi director Mejbaur Rahman Sumon.

The director along with actor Chanchal Chowdhury, Nazifa Tushi, producer Anjan Chowdhury Pintu, and others graced the press conference of Hawa at the 28^th Kolkata International Film Festival.

Also gracing the press meet was Srijit Mukherji. He described himself as the fanboy of Chanchal Chowdhury. The director who had not watched Hawa plans to watch the film at the festival.

Hawa is a story of libido, love, revenge, and human survival in the Bay of Bengal. It shows the journey of an all-men team of seafarers on a boat. Things take a turn when their catch turns out to be a beautiful and rebellious young maiden. Her arrival and the events that follow cause things to go haywire. What happens next?

Speaking at the press meet, Chanchal Chowdhury said “Films that are out of the box and do not conform to the formulas often do not do well in Bangladesh. Thankfully Hawa has been getting good reception. I had been urging the director to release the film in India. And now the film has finally been released in India. This is a great feeling on Vijay Diwas and the best gift that we could get”.

The director added that not much VFX has been done in the film. Whatever looked like VFX has been shot by the director.

Srijit Mukherji was questioned whether he will like to cast Chanchal Chowdhury in any of his projects. “Talks are on. Let’s see what happens” added the director.

The screenplay writers of the film are Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, Faruque Jahin Amin, and Sukorno Shahed Dhiman.

Speaking about the shooting experience, Chanchal Chowdhury said “When Sumon contacted me he did not tell me the story. Instead, he said why he wanted to do the story. That struck me as interesting as the director was trying to justify his intent to make a film. We all have worked hard on this film and being appreciated means our hard work is paying off”.

The cinematographer of the film is Kamrul Hasan Khosru.

The music is by Emon Chowdhury and Raseed Sharif Shoaib.

The film had already been screened at Toronto International Film Festival (2022) and Bangladesh Film Festival (Kolkata, 2022).

Video link of the press conference- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3sN8X-nAuE

Priyanka Dutta