Shadow play

An hour after the press conference was scheduled,a SUV pulled into the courtyard of Loreto Sealdah. The game of hopscotch was abandoned. The ganjee-clad philanthropists turned around. They stared. They stared as goggled Tannishtha and Prashant disembarked. They stared as the lead pair posed for cutsey pictures with a few gangly kids (were they offended to be denied their share of attention?). Finally,it was time to address the crowd. Prashant talked about his fascination with the city— “I love walking down the streets of the city”. Tannishtha talked about the fate of her last few films,which were declared festival hits but commercial failures. “Even if a film is screened just in a festival,it is being seen by people. We feel that only commercial releases are successes but that’s just one way of looking at things. When a film is telecast on a television channel it probably reaches out to more people than a film screened in a theatre can ever can. That is the true destiny of a film,I feel,” said Tannishtha.

Shadows of Time,which was directed by Oscar-winning German filmmaker Florian Gallenberger,is a generational love story set in a carpet factory in Kolkata. “The most interesting thing about the film is that it’s Bengali film made by a German filmmaker. That makes it a one-of-a-kind production,” insists Tannishtha.

When it came to interacting with the children,Tannishtha took the initiative. “I heard you guys were taken to Sceince City for an outing,what all did you see?” she asked. Nervous giggles and squeals of laughter in reply,before a brave girl took the mike in hand and talked about her day out. “We got to know about different planets and then we visited the aquarium. It was a learning experience for us but we managed to have fun too,” she said.

Some time later,after the food boxes duly distributed and the stars of the afternoon left in their air-conditioned SUV,little Minu had a query. “Hero-ta ke jaani?” (Who was the hero again?)”.

Shadows of Time will be aired on Sony PIX on July 17