Indian-American filmmaker’s ‘Patang’ premiers in Tribeca
April 26th, 2011 - 12:58 pm ICT by IANSNew York, April 26 (IANS) New York based Indian-American filmmaker Prashant Bhargava is having the North American premiere of his new film “The Kite (Patang)” at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival here this week.
The film is one of 12 feature films in the world narrative competition. The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival slate was chosen from a total of 5,624 submissions, a record number for the festival. “Patang” is the sole narrative feature film representing India in the festival.
“Patang” recently celebrated its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in their Forum programme.
“Patang” features award winning actress Seema Biswas (Water, Bandit Queen) alongside actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Peepli Live, Dev D. Firaaq) and Sugandha Garg (Tere Bin Laden, My Name is Khan, Janne Tu Ya Janne Na), Mukund Shukla, Aakash Maherya and Hamid Shaikh.
In 2005, director Prashant Bhargava travelled from Brooklyn to Ahmedabad to experience the annual kite festival, the largest in India.
“When I first witnessed the entire city on their rooftops, staring up at the sky, their kites dueling ferociously, dancing without inhibition, I knew I had to make this film,” Bhargava said.
Inspired by the spiritual energy of the festival, Prashant returned to Ahmedabad over the next three years, slowly immersing himself in the ways of the old city. He became acquainted with its unwritten codes of conduct, its rhythms and secrets.
“I would sit on a street corner for hours at a stretch and just observe. Over time, I connected with shopkeepers and street kids, gangsters and grandmothers. This process formed the foundation for the characters, story and my approach to shooting the film,” he said.
Six years in the making, “Patang” is Bhargava’s first feature film. His short film “Sangam” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, garnering several awards and distinctions.
Prashant started out in the arts as a graffiti artist in his hometown of Chicago. He went on to study computer science at Cornell University and theatrical directing at The Actors Studio MFA programme at the New School.
For the last fifteen years, he has directed and designed commercials, music videos, title sequences and promos.
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