Animal talk

Recalling his first feature film, FTII alumnus Judhajit Sarkar says that it was a documentary film he had made about female boxers that triggered the story of Khashi Katha. “Many people have asked me about ‘what is this film about a talking goat? Goats do not talk, do they’? My response is, “We have dozens of goats talking nonsense around us, albeit disguised as humans. If men can talk gibberish then why can’t a real goat talk sense?”

The story and the sub-plots within boil down to the Darwinian philosophy of survival of the fittest. Does this mean ‘fittest’ in terms of the physical strength to fight? Or does it refer to the goat’s and his human peers’ intellectual and logical ability to talk and/or fight their ways to come out triumphant. Some like the storytelling goat and Salma, the female boxer, win while some like Salma (Anindita Chatterjee)’ s twin brother (Prasun Gyne) lose out.

“Boxing is a combat sport where violence is a given because the boxers willingly accept being punished while winning or losing. Taking pain is a conscious and deliberate decision of the boxers. I felt featuring a woman engaged in a combat game would work. But, it did not for a long time because producers have preconceived notions of what will work and what will not. My intention was to break this barrier. Ultimately, Starfire Movies of Delhi, a foundation, stepped in,” says Judhajit whose diploma film went to Karlovy Vary and another documentary Thinking Allowed/Aloud was India’s maiden entry at the INPUT festival.

“I was waiting for the right time, the right story, the right producer and finally, Khashi Katha is about to release,” says Judhajit. Naseeruddin Shah who knew Judhajit from the time he was assisting Vidhu Vinod Chopra during Sazaaye Maut, willingly agreed to do the butcher’s role where he speaks mostly in Hindi and a smattering of Bengali. “I took him because mine is a small-budget film and also the fact that he is an outstanding performer, I felt he would add to the USP of my film.”

Anindita Chatterjee who plays Salma said, “Naseem Ahmedbhai who runs a boxing club in Khidirpur, trained me, Daminidi who plays my rival and Prasunda who is my twin in the film in boxing. We would train everyday for two to three hours.” Prasun Gyne, an established actor till now confined to character roles and cameos, is excited about his first major role as Pervez Alam, Salma’s twin brother.

Kanchan Mullick, a brilliant actor, has given voiceover to the goat. Naseeruddin Shah says, “I haven’t yet seen the film, but I have expectations from my shooting experience that Khashi is the human conscience which mirrors our ownselves. It also narrates the story of underdogs, including a female boxer.” Wonder boy Raja Narayan Deb has done the musical score for this unusual film. Surjodeep Ghosh is DOP and Tamal Chakraborty has edited the film that will be ready for release at the end of this month.