With relatable characters, effective shots and a story in parts, Jaydeep Sarkar's 'Nayantara's Necklace' shows the mundanities of life, which the director says is his observation about the middle-class and their ambitions
With relatable characters, effective shots and a story in parts, Jaydeep Sarkar's 'Nayantara's Necklace' shows the mundanities of life, which the director says is his observation about the middle-class and their ambitions.
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Jaydeep got the basic idea for his short film from a 2012 news report about a man, who killed his family and then committed suicide, as they were in debt.
"'Nayantara's Necklace' is drawn out of my observation of middle-class life and experience that we are all going through. Post the early 1990s' the world around us has completely changed. The whole need for instant gratification, and the desire to get something we don't have at the moment, is a trap," Jaydeep told PTI.
"It never ends. I am also a victim of it in some way and primarily that observation is something that has been in the back of the story. Apart from this, a news report I read in 2012 was basically the germ of it," he said.
The 20 minutes 39 seconds short film, starring Konkana Sensharma and Tillotama Shome, revolves around the friendship of two women and their individual yearnings to achieve a "good" life .
The dilemma the characters go through, the pretentiousness that Nayantara (Konkana) shows and aspirations that Alka (Tillotama) has, forms the basis of the film through which Jaydeep wanted to focus on the real women.
"The two women characters in the film, they are the ones whose stories are not told, whether it is television or films.
There is certain kind of mould in which female characters are fitted. In television they are homemakers, who are very happy with kitchen politics," he said.
"In films they are arm candies. Very rarely there is an 'English Vinglish' or a 'Queen'. So, I wanted to focus on normal middle-class women. I found them very fascinating and decided to talk about them."
About the unusual, but perfect casting, the director said both the actresses were in loop since the beginning of the project and he would love to collaborate with them for a film.
"Tillotama and I have been talking about this story for a long time, even before she decided to come on board. She was very excited about the part as it was light-hearted.
"Konkana and I know each other. People have seen her playing roles which have a point to prove. I wanted her to play someone, who is shallow and caught up with appearances. I wish they work with me in a full-length film," he said.
The writer-director feels movies have become a mere source of entertainment and no one wants to talk about the issues the middle-class goes through.
"Hindi films are mostly seen as an escape. Whether it is the audiences or the filmmakers, they don't want to see their daily troubles on-screen. Cinema has become time pass. I don't think there are films right now which talks about the monotony of life, which we saw in the films of '70s. Govind Nihalani's 'Party' was one such film, which talks about us," he said.
Jaydeep, who has worked with filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, is planning to make a feature film soon on the lines of what Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee used to make.
"I love humanist films. I love stories that observe the irony and struggles of daily life. I love films that bring alive the human predicament. I am planning to make a feature film very soon that will for surely have a realistic approach," he said.
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