Rohtak student's short film chosen for Cannes

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, January 17

“Chhaya”, a short film made by a student of the Pt Lakhmi Chand State University of Performing and Visual Arts (PLCSUPVA), Rohtak, has been selected for the Cannes World Film festival.

The 15-minute film has been written and directed by Utsav, a final-year student of the film-direction course at the department of film and television of the university.

INSPIRED BY R’sthani folk song

• The film, ‘Chhaya’, is inspired by a Rajasthani folk song. The plot is set in a village located on the Haryana-Rajasthan border.
• The 15-minute film has been written by Utsav.
• He says the OTT platform has provided a great opportunity to the budding film-makers to raise issues

“The film is inspired by a Rajasthani folk song which I heard several years ago. It tells the story of a poor farmer whose first wife has died, leaving behind two daughters. The second wife of the debt-ridden farmer keeps on coaxing him into abandoning his village and daughters and move to a town to start a new life afresh, putting him in a deep dilemma,” said Utsav.

The plot of the film is set in a village located on the Haryana-Rajasthan border and the characters converse in a local dialect.

“Chhaya” has also been selected under the “Short fiction category” for the Dada Saheb Phalke International Film Festival, Mumbai; International Kolkata Short Film Festival and Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival.“It is a matter of pride for our department as well as the university that a film made by our student has been selected for the prestigious Cannes festival,” says Dushyant, a founder faculty member at the Department of Film and Television at PLCSUPVA.

The OTT platform has provided a great opportunity to the budding film-makers to raise the concerns of the marginalised sections of society, he added.

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