Exclusive! National Award-winning director Sarmistha Maiti: Wanted to start Mon Potongo from KIFF

The 28th Kolkata International Film Festival is around the corner. With Australia in focus, the fiscal will start on December 5 and will run for a week. This year, director duo Sarmistha Maiti and Rajdeep Paul’s film Kalkokkho won the National Award for the Best Bengali Film. The director duo’s second film Mon Potongo was selected for this year’s KIFF. The film will debut at the festival.

Also read: KIFF: Bengali Panorama section welcomes fresh filmmakers 

The film tells the love story of a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl. Like the millions of migrants, their lives started on the pavement, but they dream of becoming rich. The story has romance and the burning current issues of our society. It also deals with the fear of getting evicted from their own country.

Also read: KIFF: Actress Swastika Mukherjee congratulates new directors 

In an interview with OTTplay, Sharmistha said, “We wanted to start the journey of Mon Potongo from our home ground. This is a film that has a narrative. Unlike Kalkokkho, this one is colourful and vibrant, yet dark. It has a lot of character. We want to release the film in the future. This is great news that the film will be shown at KIFF first.” 

The film will be premiered at the Kolkata International Film Festival. Aurora Film Corporation produced the film. Producer Anjan Basu said that the film would be released on the big screen at the beginning of 2024.