This Kolkata Director Is Headed to Cannes With a Film Inspired by Tagore

Aneek Chaudhuri's film, Streer Potro named after Rabindranath Tagore's renowned short story, is also inspired by the aesthetics of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali.

By Aishhwariya Subramanian

May 16, 2017

A 24-year-old filmmaker has taken inspiration from one of the beloved storied penned by Rabindranath Tagore, and made a film that is now slated to be screened at Cannes.

Aneek Chaudhuri, a Kolkata resident, adapted Tagore’s popular short story, Streer Potro (The Wife’s Letter) and completed its filming in 12 days with a shoestring budget of just ₹10 lakh. The movie, which also goes by the same name as Tagore’s short story, shares its aesthetic with the works of Spanish artist Salvador Dali who also dabbled in film-making.

Aneek’s film has been selected for screening at Marché du Films, the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival established in 1959. The film is 143-minutes long and will be screened on May 17.

The avant-garde film revolves around the life of its protagonist, a mysterious character named X. Aneek describes his film as sarcastic and even painful to watch. Speaking to Hindustan Times, he said, “The film actually tries to find a way of balancing between life’s complexities and its basic simplicity. Here, Dali’s surrealism represents the complexities through which I have tried to reach the life’s simplicities that Tagore unearthed and hailed.”

The movie has been applauded in film festivals across the world including the Hamilton Film Festival in Canada. Aneek had a corporate job in Delhi until he quit it to pursue his goal of film-making and his dream of making Streer Potro has finally been fulfilled.

The trailer for the film can be viewed below.

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