EXCLUSIVE| Filmmaker Anirban Dutta: ‘Happy that films like Three Of Us and Joram are coming to cinemas’

Filmmaker Anirban Dutta’s Anubhuti will have its World Premiere at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) 2024. About Anubhuti Meera Bai defies traditional devotion by expressing her profound love for Krishna through music and writing. The emotional connection involves Radha as a poignant thread connecting Meera and Krishna in a unique way. Meera’s timeless poetry reflects a lasting desire for a divine connection, making her story relevant in today’s chaotic world and amid modern social issues. The filmmaker’s works have spanned diverse mediums such as fiction, visual arts, shorts, poetry, photography, creative writing, and travel. His travel features have been published in renowned publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast, The Guardian and Outlook Traveller. Anirban is currently working on the film, ‘Road to Kiarostami’. Anirban’s short film ‘Outside the Burning Ghats’ secured its place as one of the top 22 works submitted, as recognized by Asian Movie Pulse in 2020. His debut feature, ‘Jahnabi’ premiered at the Mediawave Film and Music Festival in Hungary, earning him acclaim and establishing him as a notable voice in Indian independent cinema. Unknowingly she would perform Meera Bhajan And in an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the filmmaker spoke about one and all. Edited excerpts from the interview Where did the idea, the inspiration for Anubhuti come from? The idea came when I was visiting a border between India and Bangladesh. I visited a village house where I happened to meet a girl who was 14 or 15 years old, and that was the time I was doing my research regarding Meera Bhajan. That girl and her entire family were color blind, and she performed a lot of dramas in the village during any occasion or rituals. She only had an imagination of Meera as Hema Malini because a film was made in Bollywood, by Gulzar, I guess. The more I spoke to her I realized she was unable to feel the colours, but the music and poetry of Meera bring the colors back in her life.

Anubhuti will have its World Premiere at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) 2024. What’s the significance of this validation for you? This is a great moment for me, as well as for independent Indian cinema. Last year the festival had chosen 30 films from India. Now we have Movies premiering in festivals like Venice, Berlin each year. I’m happy films like _Three Of Us_ and Joram are coming to cinemas and people are coming to watch these films. I feel happy, but also responsible because now I have to do justice and deliver that benchmark. What were some of the responses you received for your previous films? Some of the responses were really remarkable. Janhabi was my debut as a filmmaker and even though I couldn’t screen it at many festivals, I had the opportunity to get invited at different cinema theatres across UK and France. What do you have to say about cinema changing? Now we are making cinema that’s more sensible and the story is more of ours. I don’t like films that are always bashing us with messaging. There can be different takeaways that can be different for each of us. We are now making films on regular events.