A student of business management, Indira Dhar Mukherjee held a plum post as a chief consultant, leading a team of 12 in the corporate world. But her love for films that took roots during her acting days in college years goaded her to take the risky plunge and now, she is almost ready with her debut feature film, The Green Window starring Jaya Seal Ghosh in the lead.
“I did a lot of workshops with renowned filmmakers and the last one with Anand Gandhi changed my perception and sharpened my focus the most,” shares the Mumbai-based filmmaker, who is currently busy finishing the postproduction work for her first Hindi feature, The Green Window.
During her days in the corporate world, she finished writing a few short stories that got published last year on Women’s Day (March 8) as a compilation titled Angels on Earth. “The stories are a tribute to all the mothers on earth and I got great feedback from the readers with a majority of them telling me that the second story The Green Window was the most heart-rending one,” explains the 35-year-old budding filmmaker.
“I always wanted to make a film out of the story for the longest time but I wanted to tell it sensitively. Hence the delay,” she adds. With The Green Window almost ready for its journey across the global film festival circuit, Indira shares with us a few details about the same besides her future plans.
Tell us a little about The Green Window?
It’s adapted from the second story of my book Angels on Earth, and is based on a true incident. It’s about Georgy Fernandes, a 64-year-old widow who lives in Kolkata with her son, daughter-in-law and grandson. When her son has to leave for the US with his family, Georgy has to stay back since her medical coverage and visa would take some time to be processed. Refusing to live alone, she shifts to an old-age home, where she meets ‘The Green Window’. Actor Jaya Seal Ghosh plays Georgy, Kinjal Nanda plays her son, Aparajita Ghosh plays the daughter-in-law and Shaheb Chattopadhyay plays the part of Georgy’s late husband.
How was it working with Jaya Seal Ghosh?
Besides acting in the film, Jaya is also a co-producer and she is a wonderful human being. She is humble, sensitive and a great actor to work with. Both my producers Priti Agarwal and Jaya are excellent to work with and gave me the space to make the film how I wanted to.
What are your upcoming projects?
Next, I will do a thriller film, maybe by the end of this year. This film too will have Jaya as one of the leads.
The Green Window will hit the festival circuit soon
sharmishtha.g@newindianexpress.com
@sharmidas