After bagging the Best Director and Best Actor award at 13th Ayodhya International Film Festival, director Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s bilingual 50 minute film Rickshawala seems to be gaining more popularity amongst the film fraternity. Recently Om Puri Foundation joined hands with the film as social cause partner. This happened after Nandita Puri, wife of late Om Puri and his son Ishaan Puri watched the film. Incidentally, this is for the first time that Om Puri Foundation decided to be a part of a movie.

The film marks debut of Bollywood actor Avinash Dwivedi in Bengali cinema. He was spotted by Ram Kamal at television star Debina Bonerjee’s birthday bash in Mumbai and after that he was screen tested for the role. Incidentally, Nandita couldn’t believe that being a Mumbai boy, Avinash managed to not only get the body language right, but also the dialect in Bengali and Bhojpuri. Avinash stayed in Kolkata for a week, practiced rickshaw barefoot on the streets of Kolkata.

After watching the film, Nandita got emotional, as she met Om Puri in Kolkata during the shoot of City Of Joy, while whe was working with a daily newspaper.

Exquisitely shot by Modhura Palit, the film also stars Sangita Sinha and Kasturi Chakraborty in pivotal roles. The film is produced by Aritra Das, Gaurav Daga and Shailendra Kumar.