Shot with local actors, the Sikkimese language “Pahuna” is the first feature film from the state. Directed by débutante Pakhi Tyrewala, the film follows the journey of three Nepalese children who get separated from their parents while entering Sikkim.
It gives a glimpse into the life and struggles of the hill people The actor-turned-director made a short Kajal which premièred at the New York Indian Film Festival 2017. Pahuna was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. “I was actually an assistant of Abbas Tyrewala before I married him. I came to Mumbai for making films but in between modelling took over and it was followed by acting in Jhoota Hi Sahi . Finally, it is happening,” says Pakhi, ahead of its India release.
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I still remember the bond that I made with Sikkim, 16 years back. A brief teaching stint took me to a home there and since then the food, lifestyle stayed with me. I can never forget the warmth, love, welcoming nature of the people. They did not treat me as an outsider. Secondly, I come from a middle-class family where both parents work and elder siblings always fill the space of the parents when they are not there. I just know the feeling that if you put children in tough situations, they blossom It is a woman's perspective.
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There are movies made by many filmmakers where a bunch of young kids are left alone and how they react to it. It becomes like survival of the fittest scenario. I am a firm believer that children are like islands and they don't become political when left alone. Instead they become a team.
It is not in your first language. How was the writing process?
It is in Nepali and I first made a draft in English but their nuances can come across only in Nepali, so somebody translated it for me and a dialogue writer wrote the script with me and we have jokes and idioms which will give the sense of that milieu.
This story stayed with me for ten years and I was into writing already before I went into acting. When the chance of making the first film came to me, I thought if I make a hit film, nobody will let me make a regional film and if I make a flop, nobody is going to give me money again. So it was a do or die situation.
How did Priyanka Chopra become part of the project?
Let me tell you, apart from Priyanka Chopra, the guiding force is Madhu Chopra, her mother. She was the one with whom I used to share my vision. She also decided that we should take the film to International festivals. Priyanka used to look into the creative aspects of it. My initial interaction with her was actually nothing except sharing the idea and she asked me to write it down. She didn't want to make it for money and I am very happy that she went ahead with that vision. She wanted to make it the way an international film is made. We had to raise funds and make sure that it is not a loss for anybody. Fortunately, both the Centre and State government gave some funds to it.
Will you like it to be dubbed in Hindi?
Our initial plan was to release it in 14 languages but we all felt it will defeat the real purpose of mainstreaming Sikkimese cinema. When you have three screens in a multiplex, you can give one smaller screen for a film like this because it is not a competition for the big release of the week. And the viewers can exercise their choice.