Bollywood film ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’ made by Assamese filmmaker Biswajeet Bora and produced by Maya Kholie from Arunachal Pradesh has almost reached the final stage of its making. The film is scheduled for release in the next couple of months. Biswajeet Bora recently confirmed over phone that the film is in the final mixing stage under the very famous and award winning sound mixing engineer Alok Dey at Mumbai’s Fiesta Studio. Alok Dey has recently worked in ‘NH10’ produced by Anuska Sharma and Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Bhomkesh Bakshi’. Director Bora has laid special emphasis on the film’s technical aspect so as to make it exceptionally compelling and smart. Recently the film has completed its DI (Digital Intermediate) work in Origin Studio of Mumbai under DI Colorist Sujit Bora. “The film looks fabulous well shot and I have used some beautiful colors in order to make the flashback and dream scenes more attractive”, said Bora, while also adding that people will get to see a good film after a long time.
Based on a very unique and relevant story, ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’ has already created much buzz in Bollywood due to a number of reasons. Producer Maya Kholie has planned a pan India release in May this year as well as overseas release with the help of some reputed distribution companies. Already producers are set to release the film’s music in April in Mumbai. Six original tracks from the movie have been composed by Dr Palash Sen of the music band Euphoria.
The film set in Mumbai tells the story of ever growing human detachment with nature and how an urban family gets trapped in the concrete jungle of a metropolis. It reflects the wide-ranging conception of children virtually drifting away, and gradually forgetting their roots, and the circumstances that somehow push us into today’s world of technology, but eventually the film gives out its social message in a satirical and light-hearted way. Moreover, the movie raises pertinent questions about life and survival, and everything that lies in between. It is filled with subtle humour and has a sardonic style of storytelling. The diverse culture of the North-East region is not explored in Bollywood films as it should be. But all that will change as ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’ tries to bring the North Eastern flavour for the very first time in Bollywood mainstream cinema. It also broaches upon the issue of racism faced by people from the North-East in the metro cities.
Besides possessing imaginative freshness and global appeal, another important attribute of this production is its environmental-conscious initiative. ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’ is probably India’s first carbon neutral feature film. With the help of CERE (Centre for Environmental Research and Education), an NGO from Mumbai, which works to promote environmental sustainability through action-oriented education, awareness and advocacy, the production company has planted almost 370 trees all over India to make the film ‘carbon neutral’. Film shoots tend to harm the environment in many ways. During the making of ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’ too, the production polluted the environment in many ways – Greenhouse gas emissions from onsite fuel, vehicle, electricity, shipping and air travel associated with a film production, onset generators, plastic uses among others. So to compensate, the production company planted trees and took up other initiatives. It’s their way of reducing the carbon content in the air, thus making the film ‘carbon-neutral’. This new concept has been welcomed by quite a few reputed Bollywood production companies and they are also planning to do it in due course of time.
The film’s writer and director Biswajeet Bora has earlier assisted internationally acclaimed filmmaker Jahnu Barua for several years before making a couple of films, including the Assamese film ‘Ejak Jonakir Jhilmil’ (A Thousand Fireflies Sparkle) in 2007. On the other hand, Maya Kholie, the producer, had started her production company called – ‘Kholie Entertainment’ in 2009 in Mumbai and made the documentary – ‘Angel of the Aboriginals: Dr Verrier Elwin’ that was directed by Biswajeet Bora. This documentary has been selected to several international film festivals, including the Bollywood Beyond Film Festival in Germany and the IUAES (International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences) in Turkey.
‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’s dialogues are written by two times National Award-winning writer Ashok Mishra and edited by twice National Award winner Suresh Pai. The film’s sound is designed by Arun Nambiar. Cinematography is done by Vierendra Lalit. Music is composed by Dr Palash Sen. Choreography is by the much popular choreographer from Bollywood movies Ganesh Acharya, Rahul Thomre and Assam’s Deepak Dey. Background music is composed by the National Award winning musician Anurag Saikia. The film is co-produced by Kezleen Kholie. The film’s associate producer is Satish Sharma.
A character-driven film, ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’ stars Dr. Palash Sen, Ira Dubey, Yashpal Sharma, Tinu Anand, Kymsleen Kholie, Prisha Dabbas, Satish Sharma, Saurabh Pandey and Carol Gracias. Several well-known artistes from Assam also make their presences felt in the film. Some of these artistes are Bishnu Khargharia, Reena Bora, Chetana Das, Jupitora Bhuyan, Rabijita Gogoi, Rupam Chetia, Pakija Begum, Ayan Devsarma among others.
Prantik Deka
