Jangalmahal violence to be captured on celluloid

Kolkata: The turbulence in Jangalmahal, comprising three districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, during the Maoist heyday will now be captured on celluloid.

Young director Sanghamitra Choudhury, who is making the docu-feature, said that her film would confine itself to projecting the impact of the long Maoists-security forces conflict on the residents of the area. "My film `Chhaya Juddho` (shadow fight) deals with the human side of the situation, for which I have interacted with local residents many of whom belong to various committees in the Maoist hotbed." The movie would centre around a man loosely based on the real life character of a slain top Maoist leader, but in another name. The character of a surrendered woman Maoist leader, who shares the surname with the dreaded real life Maoist leader Jagori Baske, also crops up in the movie. "We have changed the names for certain reasons. In the movie we have not sought to preach from the pulpit, but endeavoured to find reply from the common man`s perspective," Chaudhuri explained. Celebrated actress Indrani Halder essays the character of a city woman attached to an NGO and who has lost her IPS brother posted in West Midnapore district. Asked if the sister`s character bore any resemblance to the kins of the abducted and slain policeman and teacher Soumajit and Partho two years back, Indrani said "not specficially. "But I have read about their accounts in newspapers, saw it on TV and can relate to Sachhatoya, wife of Soumyajit Singha Roy," she said. Though she had no brush with violence, Indrani said during many of her trips to the area to hold cultural shows she had heard gun shots and bomb blasts. "I have the hunch that we, artistes, are loved by people across divides. If everybody can share his or her love for music, drama, film, then why can`t he/she stop putting daggers at each other`s throat?" Indrani said. PTI