After the pandemic, filmmakers in Bengal have been trying to bounce back by relying on star-studded films. Director Sourish Dey however wanted to walk on a different path. His debut film Juto is a silent film that has neither a big budget, star cast nor halls to back it. The film will have a café release, which is the first of its kind to happen in Kolkata.

A press conference was organized to announce this feat in the presence of director Sourish Dey, Tathagata Mukherjee, Aparsi, owner of Café Ohana, and others.

“Juto’s shooting began in 2017 and was completed in 2019. We had a limited budget so releasing the film at cinema halls or sending it to film festivals was not possible. And post-Covid, getting a chance to release a non-star film was very difficult. It is then that Tathagata Mukherjee and Café Ohana helped us a lot. This is the first film in Kolkata to release in a café” said the director.

The film will release theatrically on 25^th November in Nazrul Tirtha. The café release of the film will take place from 25^th November till 1^st December at café Ohana Film Club, Golf Green.

On the release day, the 80-minute-long silent film will have a group of deaf and dumb audience as special guests.

Aparsi said “I opened the café in April. Many of my friends are independent filmmakers and I know their pain. Hence we took the initiative of providing them with a platform for showing their work. With Tathagata’s help, we are building a community. In the last three months, we have shown 30 films consisting of shorts and full-length features”.

The film is presented by Snigsha Pictures and Café Ohana Film Club.

Tathagata Mukherjee said “Releasing a film in the halls means you have to shell out more money. Your budget for the film might be less. But the cost of releasing the film in halls is more. As a result, many short filmmakers gradually move away from this field. We lose good talent. Hence we came up with this initiative to provide them with a platform so that the audiences can watch the film”.

Bhaskar Dutta, Chalantika Gangopadhyay, Kunal Bhowmick, Arpan, Goutam Basak, Riya Paul, and others are the cast of the film.

The background music is by Saheb Chakraborty.

The producers of the film are Surojit Chanda and Snigdha Biswas.

With the café release of Juto, independent filmmakers now will get a chance to showcase their creations in front of the audience.

Video link of the event-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFrAF_8qtlI

Priyanka Dutta