Producer of ‘Lunchbox’ Shahnaab Alam has completed shooting for his debut Assamese film ‘Bhoga Khidikee’ or ‘Broken Window’ which is being directed by Jahnu Barua. The film which portrays a dramatic and moving story inspired by real incidents has Zerifa Wahid and Seema Biswas in the lead.
The film was shot almost entirely in the areas in and around Kaziranga, in Bokakhat and in Guwahati as well.
“I’ve harboured a desire to produce a film in Assamese too… primarily because I belong to Assam and there is an abundance of interesting stories from the northeastern part of our country still waiting to be adapted to cinema. And above all, to be able to work with a master auteur and storyteller par excellence like Jahnu Barua was a chance of a lifetime, and a great honour, not to be missed,” an elated Alam told The News Mill.
Alam, though from Assam, is based in Mumbai and has been associated with some of the highly appreciable projects like ‘Dhoom’, ‘Monsoon Shootout’, apart from Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Socha Na Tha’, Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Ugly’ and Hansal Mehta’s ‘Omerta’ over the years.
“And as expected, working with Jahnu da was a daily master-class in filmmaking… Also, the fact that he is so clear and focused on what he wants to achieve and portray made the entire experience of shooting extremely smooth and highly enjoyable,” he added.
The film will now begin its editing and post-production in Mumbai studios and is expected to release towards the end of this year. Easterly Entertainment under which banner the film being produced, plans to further collaborate with a film company belonging to a prominent film personality to explore the international market for the film.
Besides Zerifa and Seema Biswas, Joy Kashyap, a talented actor-musician based in Mumbai, plays the role of male protagonist. Apart from that, actor brothers — Bishnu Khargoriya and Sanjay Khargoriya, play important roles. Mohommed Ali Shah, Naseeruddin Shah’s nephew, has also an interesting role to play in the film.
‘Bhoga Khidikee’ also features Kasvi Sharma, who performed the role of Tejimola in the film ‘Kotha Nodi’.
Zerifa, one of the highly rated actors of the state has termed her experience with the project as once in a lifetime. “As an actor and working as the protagonist of the film, I feel it is an opportunity of a lifetime. I’ll have no regret taking retirement after this movie because I’m so content working with the master filmmaker Jahnu Baruah and in an extremely professional set up the lead by producer Shahnaab Alam,” Zerifa told The News Mill.
