Kolkata :

Set in Sonagachi, ‘Sold’ — that follows the tale of a child trafficked from Nepal to the city, is directed and produced by Oscar winners and features ‘X-Files’ star Gillian Anderson, David Arquette, Tillotama Shome and Parambrata Chatterjee among others, has won the audience award at a London film festival recently.

This is the first feature film of Jeffrey Dean Brown, whose first short with dialogue, adapted from the book ‘Molly’s Pilgrim’, won the Oscar in 1986. This film is adapted from a book by Patricia McCormick that has been translated into 32 languages. The executive producer of ‘Sold’, Emma Thompson, is a two-time Academy Award winner. Joint Overdose, the film firm headed by Kolkata filmmaker Qaushiq aka Q, was the line producer. “We had met and the producers were well-versed with our earlier works. Our job was to ensure everything went smoothly during the production and shoot. The film will definitely hit the screens in India by next year,” said Q.

In the film, lead character Lakshmi’s stepfather accepts an advance for her to work as a domestic servant in Kolkata, and she becomes obliged to work off the debt. Lakshmi goes willingly, believing she will work and earn enough money to buy her mother a tin roof. But when Lakshmi arrives in Kolkata, she is handed over to Mumtaz, a ‘madam’ who presides over a brothel called Happiness House. Brown pointed out that ‘Shawshank Redemption’ is structurally similar to ‘Sold’. “Mumtaz exploits her prisoners like the warden did in ‘Shawshank’. In both the films, you know the hero is planning an escape, but you’re not sure how and this keeps you watching,” he said.

Asked about if he had any reservations about the content and depiction of Kolkata’s dark underbelly, Q said: “It’s not a negative set-up at all. It’s time for us to face the facts. And we were anyway interested in the film for the social message and its outreach.” His colleague in Overdose, Tanaji Dasgupta, not only has a role in the film but is also credited as a line producer.

“I remember visiting Sonagachi for the first time, seeing hundreds of young girls and women selling themselves on the streets. It was overwhelming. When I saw a girl who had just been rescued from a brothel, I truly understood the suffering these kids go through. She couldn’t look anyone in the eye; she looked shell-shocked, like someone taken from a battlefield who had lost her entire family. Girls like her are put on suicide watch for three months after being rescued. They don’t trust anyone; they’re like frightened animals. They try to escape, they cut themselves and have been known to hang themselves if not watched. The other survivors gradually make them feel at home and teach them to trust again. It was seeing these things with our own eyes that motivated us to make the film even more, so we could show the world what is happening,” said Brown.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / by Shounak Ghosal / July 19th, 2014