Arijit Singh's Sa in New York Indian Film Festival

A string of independent films from Bengal has made it to New York Indian Film Festival this year. North America’s oldest Indian film festival has a special focus on Bengali cinema this year. The Bengali films include Arijit Singh’s Sa, Pavel’s Chegu, Ronny Sen’s Catsticks, Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Urojahaj, Sudipto Roy’s Kia and Cosmos and Suman Ghosh’s Basu Paribar.Actor Soumyajit Majumdar, who is closely associated with two selections, shared the happy news with us, “I have been part of the ensemble cast of Catsticks, which got the Grand Jury Special Mention at Slamdance, was recently screened at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and will also be screened at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. Sa, on the other hand, is directed by my friend, Arijit. I was involved with it from the start and the film was also screened at IFFI last year,” he said. Soumyajit said he is excited that several films from Bengal have made it together to the festival.
“It was an experience of a lifetime being part of both these labours of love made with an infectious indie spirit, finesse and approach by a fantastic set of cast and crew. Both Sa and Catsticks are made by debutant filmmakers and so is Kia and Cosmos. It’s heartening that the lineup this year films by newcomers as well as masters like Buddhadeb Dasgupta. A lot of new filmmakers will be surely inspired by this. Personally, for me, it’s very encouraging as it comes at a time whenI just finished the final draft of an indie feature I am about to start work on along with setting up a screenwriters’ collective for which I let go of acting offers for more than a year,” he added. Sir by Rohena Gera will open the festival on May 7, while the centrepiece this year is Ritesh Batra’s Photograph. The festival will close on May 12 with Vikas Khanna’s The Last Color starring Neena Gupta.