Abu Sayeed’s Rupantor gearing up for Indian film festivals

Ferdaus (centre) and co-actor in “Rupantor.”

Bangladeshi filmmaker Abu Sayeed's latest work "Rupantor" will be pitted against 14 other films in the competitive section of the upcoming International Film Festival of India beginning in Goa on November 22.
Among other films in the section are "My Mother's Tears" (a joint production of Argentina and Germany), "The Shaft" (China), "The Red Spot" (a Japan-Germany joint production), "Pencil" (Malaysia), "Plonning" (The Philippines), "Akasa Kusum" (Sri Lanka) and "Mahasatta" and "Kanchivaram" (both from India), according to an official announcement made last Saturday evening.
The IFFI will mark the world premiere of "Rupantor" as well as Sayeed's return to the event after his successful debut at the competition in 2006 when his "Nirontor" had won a special jury award.
Meanwhile, "Rupantor" has shifted from the competitive section to World Cinema category at the Kerala International Film Festival to be held in Thiruvananthapuram next month. "Nirontor" had won the best feature film award in Kerala two years ago.
The ten-day festival would be inaugurated by Minister of State for Information, Anand Sharma. Both Rekha and veteran South Indian actor Kamal Hassan will be the chief guests at the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, director of the festival S.M. Khan said.
In all, 127 Indian and foreign films would be screened at the festival which will also feature works of veteran Indian filmmakers like B.R. Chopra, G.P, Sippy, F.C. Mehra and Sreedhar -- all of whom died this year.
It would also pay homage to playback singer Mahendra Kapoor, playwright and scriptwriter Vijay Tendulkar, director Nabnendu Ghosh, Marathi film actress Jayashree Gadkar and Tamil film actor Raghuvaran -- all of whom passed away this year.
Retrospectives of internationally acclaimed directors Aki Kaurismaki (Finland), John Landis (USA), Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong), Peter Chan (China) and actress Niki Karimi (Iran) would also be held during the festival.
Switzerland will be the country in focus at the festival this year and films by Bimal Roy and L.V. Prasad, whose birth centenary is being celebrated this year, would also be screened.
The Taj Mahal, the 17th century white marble monument -- an ode to love -- in Agra, has inspired some films in India and to commemorate that, four movies will be screened at the festival under the theme "Taj Mahal: A Celluloid Journey." The films are "Shiraj", a silent film made in 1928, "Shah Jahan" (1968), "Taj Mahal" (1963) and "Taj Mahal" (2005).
Among the popular Hindi movies to be shown at the festival will be actor Aamir Khan's directorial debut “Taare Zameen Par,” “Jodha Akbar” and “Wednesday.”
While the opening of the festival has not yet been decided, acclaimed Iranian director Majid Majidi's “The Song of Sparrows” will be screened at the closing ceremony on December 2.