Silent short film poster Mehroon which won a filmmaking grant at the Kashish Film Festival. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Kolkata
Short Film Mehroon has won two awards at the KASHISH International Film Festival in Mumbai. Director Abu Sohail Khondaker (he/they), a transwoman and a queer filmmaker, won the KASHISH Qidrishti Film Grant 2023 for making the film. Following the screening of the film at Liberty Cinema, Mumbai on May 19, 2024, he also won a Special Jury Mention for the Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker.
KASHISH is South Asia’s largest queer film festival, bringing together hundreds of queer directors, film industry personnel and actors from across the world to showcase and celebrate the stories of the community. Among them, 34-year-old Khondaker from Kolkata managed to get a grant of ₹2.5 lakh for her first short film.
According to Khondekar, the idea of titling the film came from Mehroon The name comes from Mehrun Nisa, the wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir, who is often described as the driving force behind his empire. In the film, the lead character chooses the name Mehrun, which is adopted symbolically to give herself a completely new identity, breaking away from Brahminical orthodoxy.
The film is about Mehrun, who is identified as Anirban Mandal at birth and has a difficult relationship with his father. His father’s will stipulates that he will be given a share in the estate only if Mehrun calls himself his “son” and takes back the name he was given at birth. His journey is traced through the film’s silent but impactful scenes.
“The story of the film was born out of the need to create something out of minimal things. I believe we as a trans community cannot wait to be accepted and exposed by the larger Indian masses,” Khondekar said.
He also pointed out that a platform like KASHISH has helped many filmmakers like him from different countries to come together and find a space to “accept ourselves before the world accepts us”.
Receiving this grant and reaching the KASHISH Film Festival with her film gives Khondakar hope, but she also realises how underrepresented the gay community is in the film industry. “I saw incredible feature films, documentaries, shows and short films at the KASHISH Film Festival. I would have never seen them before if it wasn’t for this film festival. Gay films never get selected for mainstream festivals. There is a lot of potential in gay cinema. But where is the audience?” she said.
Khondakar made the film because when she was growing up she had no gay icons to look up to or learn from. She never saw representative characters like herself or people from her community in films in Bengal, except for a couple of Rituparno Ghosh films.
He said, “There was a complete lack of gay figures in the public sphere. So there was a lot of curiosity and a lot of personal questions that needed to be answered. All of that was made possible through making this film.”
Mehroon The film was well received and applauded by the audience at the screening. The filmmaker expected that much of the film would be incomplete as there was no narration and the audience had to figure out the story without verbal cues. However, the film received a great response from the audience and jury at the festival. With all the appreciation, the director said, “It was a dream to watch my film on 35mm and have the audience appreciate and applaud it.”
Mehroon Won Special Jury Mention for the Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker.
After the success of Kashish, Mehroon It has been nominated for the Chennai International Queer Film Festival, where it will be screened in a month or two.
