Dhuin: Achal Mishra’s new film traces the quiet struggle of a theatre actor

Independent filmmaker Achal Mishra’s 2019 film Gamak Ghar is often lauded as his masterful debut. Following the success of this critically acclaimed docu-fiction, the director is back with another gem narrated in Maithili language. Streaming exclusively on MUBI India February 10 onwards, Dhuin is described as an achingly tender journey of a small-town theatre actor, who is trying hard to continue pursuing his passion for the stage, amid his family’s financial struggles after the pandemic, constant arguments with his retired father and plans to migrate to Mumbai.

The 50-minute film, which had its world premiere at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2022, features actors Abhinav Jha, Bijay Kumar Sah, Prashant Rana and Ankush Prasad. The protagonist of the film, Pankaj, also hails from Darbhanga, which was the setting Gamak Ghar too. Dhuin is made in Hindi and Maithili. The movie was also screened at the National Film Development Corporation’s pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

It is said that Dhuin takes a leaf out of an incident involving an actor in Gamak Ghar, in which he had to go to a job interview with his pensioner father. In an interview with Scroll, Achal - who is also a photographer - said, “The image of the father and son on a bike in winter stayed with me. I wrote a five-page script and we decided to play with it.” 

Gamak Ghar went on to win several titles - including the ‘Manish Acharya Award for New Voices in Indian Cinema’, ‘Best Director’ at the New York Indian Film Festival 2020, ‘Best Fiction Feature Film’ at the Coalition of South Asian Film Festivals 2020 and ‘Best Feature Film’ at Indic Film Utsav 2020.

Releasing on MUBI India this Friday, Dhuin may be categorised as a short film, but it comes with the flavour of a nuanced script narrated in a cinematic language.