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Journalism of Courage
Last week, Anuparna Roy made history. She became the first Indian to win the Orizzonti Best Director award for Songs of Forgotten Trees at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. In her 77-minute debut feature, Purulia-born Roy transforms the customary male gaze to follow her two women protagonists in their everyday life as she explores marginality and desire. Self-taught, she first ventured into filmmaking with the ‘75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow’ programme at National Film Development Corporation of India (2021-22). In this interview, Anuparna talks about discovering platonic love between women, ditching her IT job to foray into filmmaking and finding the political in the personal. Excerpts:
Your film tells the story of two migrant women in Mumbai, a premise that is not novel in Indian cinema. What prompted the idea and what sets your film apart from other stories?
I wanted to talk about intimacy between two women. I got the idea from my grandmother. When she was married at the age of nine, she found a friend in her step-daughter, who was of a similar age. Theirs was a beautiful bonding. When my grandfather died, both of them ran the household without a male head. I have four aunts and an uncle — my mother’s siblings — and my maasi (my grandmother’s step daughter) became the primary providers of the family. I thought that it could be romantic to borrow from this learning and develop it into an idea about intimacy between two women, but they are not lesbians. What sets the film apart is the originality of the script. It is about the relationship between two women, just them coexisting. The film also talks about a sexual detachment that most women feel after a certain point.
You had a comfortable IT job before you became a filmmaker. What made you take the plunge?
I came to Mumbai with an offer letter for an IT job, but the plan was always to make a film. And there were challenges. I didn’t get a good apartment, I had to stay with a friend and from that point to finding an apartment, it became about finding producers for my film. There was a lot of struggle while shooting as well. The house was small and I wanted a movable-camera setting, so that I could follow the character. Since we couldn’t do that, we ended up designing wide shots that came out beautifully (the film was shot over 50 days, but post-production took nearly two years). That helped the film eventually. There are always struggles, but they help you evolve.
Tell us about your friend Jhuma Nath and how she shaped the narrative of Songs of Forgotten Trees?
Jhuma Nath was my first school friend in Class V. Since she was a Dalit, my father denied me that friendship the moment he found out. I was told I couldn’t speak to her. I was a kid, so I ignored her at school and then I found out that she got married… it was fixed under some government policy. Suddenly, it all became political. I felt that my father and the government were similar in their patriarchal mentality. In the film, Jhuma’s story is prominent.
How did you come up with the metaphor of forgotten trees?
In Assam, Hollong trees are called forgotten trees. I created a myth around this tree in the film — that if you take your loved one to one of them, they will forget you forever. So Thooya (Naaz Shaikh) had taken her friend to the forgotten trees to see the pinwheel-like flying seeds they carry. So while these flying seeds result in the birth of new trees, it causes your loved one to forget you.
How did the collaboration with Anurag Kashyap (film’s presenter) come about?
It was because of (producer) Ranjan Singh. I met him at a party and said, ‘Sir, would you like to listen to a third-world cinema script?’, and he said ‘yes’. He brought Anurag sir, who came on board. And then Bibhanshu Rai, who was also a producer for my first (short) film, Run to the River (2024) and a dear friend, brought in Romil Modi, who has worked on films such as Laapataa Ladies (2023), Newton (2017) and Anuja (2024). Actor Vikas Kumar, who worked in the webseries Kaala Pani (2023), joined as co-producer with his production house Khan & Kumar Media that he runs with his childhood friend Sharib Khan. They brought a freshness to the script, while Naveen Shetty did the colour correction. It’s a woman-centric film supported by seven men. What can be better than that?
During your acceptance speech, you spoke in support of Palestinian children. Why did you feel the need to do that?
I am against genocides everywhere, be it in Palestine or Israel or anywhere else. As a global citizen, I feel it’s my responsibility to talk about it. That doesn’t make me any less Indian. I am thankful for everything my country has given me. I’m glad that the chief minister posted about the win and I want to thank the Prime Minister as well. But that doesn’t mean I support a political party or that I am a Leftist.
Tell us about your next project.
It’s a film set in British Bengal against the backdrop of India’s freedom, based on my grandmother and her stepdaughter, and is about different forms of freedom.
