Afak Khan : Correspondent
Iranian director Majid Majidi, an Oscar nominee, has called the film a brilliant debut for Himanshu Malik.
Asked if he is also acting in the film, Himanshu adds, “No, I am not, though for want of a better cast I have made a fleeting presence somewhere beating someone, which I was anyway doing during Production.”
Speaking about his decision to turn director, Himanshu says, “The general kind of films that were being made did not engage with me. There was the Karan Johar sugar laced old school films, the Yashraj in modern form but still somewhere trying to be deeply Indian in ethos, then there were the Anurag Kashyap independent wave which were for some reason rooted in heartland India- they were all wonderful films but none of them spoke of the world I knew. The stories and the world I grew up in were not being told and I simply wanted to get up and say them. The urban landscape and the myriad of characters I knew became my muse and I started penning down stories and therein started the road to where I am now. “
On his journey, journey from being an actor to director, Himanshu says, “Actually, the skill that came most handy as a Director is the fact that I had been an actor in my earlier avatar. In the end, filmmaking is an intimate human art, unless your actors are on point the story will never get told the way you want it to. Thus, my background really helped, to know the rhythm of an actor is the most essential. As for the journey, I got the usual treatment of reluctance and sniggers to accept this new role, but I never seem to care of such things.”
Describing his film Himanshu says, “It is a meditation about love and the nuances that make for the undefinable world of relationships. It is also a simple story of finding love and losing it. ‘Chitrakut’ is the place where Ram and Sita spent their initial years of banishment, in some texts they are known to have had lived in bliss of each other, never after their stay in Chitrakut- since their bond was broken after her abduction, never before- since he was son, king, brother in Ayodhya- were they as happy as they wre in Chitrakut. This metaphor of life and love became the basis of the film.”
Chitrakoot is Presented by Akbar Arabiyan Mojdeh & Mojtaba Movies and PRODUCED by Akbar Arabiyan, Himanshu Malik. WRITTEN & DIRECTED by Himanshu Malik, the Cast includes Auritra Ghosh, Vibhore Mayank, Naina Trivedi, Kiran Srinivas, Shruti Bapna.
