Filmmaker Prataya Saha talks about his short film Mein Mehmood

The short film won the prestigious Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Short Film at KIFF '22
Prataya Saha
Prataya Saha

It took a while for Kolkata born filmmaker Prataya Saha to finally settle on his passion for the art, after quitting his high paying job as a statistical analyst. He believes his film journey was quite accidental, yet it was something that was always meant to happen given his knack for photography and writing even amidst his busy schedule.  It was in 2013, that he got access to the green room of an eminent theatre production in Bangalore as a theatre photographer that subconsciously inspired him to delve deep into the world of theatre and films. Furthermore, his brief stint in London exposed him to the respect and acceptance artists are bestowed with in that part of the world. After a directorial debut with Anna’s Weekend in 2016, he went on to make eleven other shorts based on various societal issues that are seldom touched upon. Having worked on topics like domestic abuse during pregnancy, societal conditioning of women in a patriarchal society and the lack of real life communication that comes along with the over usage of social media, Pratyaya’s recent work Mein Mehmood touches upon the adversities faced by an immigrant based out of Dubai who isn’t well versed in English. The film has not only won accolades at DC South Asian Film Festival and River to River Florence Indian Film Festival but also the coveted Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Short Film at Kolkata International Film Festival 2022. We speak to him to learn more about Mein Mehmood and his commercial ventures.

What inspired you to create Mein Mehmood?

Lingual problems faced by immigrants in other countries are seldom addressed even if it is ubiquitous in nature. There are more than 6500 languages in the world, yet it is quite unfair to judge someone based on their proficiency in one particular language. I am not against any particular language as each language in this world has taken thousands of years to evolve, and are flag bearers of culture and history. This is also the reason why it is important to acknowledge and respect diversity. Imagine being a post graduate having studied with their mother tongue as the medium, yet being judged on the basis of English proficiency. This issue also comes with its own subsequences such as immigrants not being able to express themselves freely.  Mein Mehmood is representative of the identity crisis that comes along with this. The story was conceived out of very personal experiences with people abroad who face this struggle day in and day out even to earn their daily bread.

Do you have any plans for commercial ventures?

I have not yet worked on a feature film yet, but numerous music videos and advertisements. I have recently finished working on my first Bengali short film named Shonar Khancha (The Golden Cage) featuring actors Anshulika Kapoor, Deboprasad Halder and Sounak Sen Barat. The story is set against the backdrop of 1989 where three people residing in an old palatial house dispute over whether to preserve its heritage or turn it into an apartment complex. The film will start premiering in festivals February onwards.

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