Majid Majidi praises actor-turned-director Himanshu Malik for his film 'Chitrakut'

Majid Majidi, the director known for films like 'Children of Heaven' and 'The Song of Sparrows', has praised actor-turned-director Himanshu Malik and his directorial debut 'Chitrakut'.

Himanshu is the actor who starred in Anubhav Sinha's musical film 'Tum Bin' back in 2001, where he shared the screen with Priyanshu Chatterjee and Raqesh Bapat.

Recollecting the time when he saw the film at Himanshu's request, Majidi said, "A while ago I saw Himanshu Malik's movie 'Chitrakut' in a private show. I remember that I was a part of jury committee for a festival in Kerala, India. At that time a young man named Himanshu came (to me) and wanted me to watch his film. Although it was a tight schedule, we managed to watch the film together."

The veteran filmmaker further mentioned, "'Chitrakut' is a sensitive and mature film, it was very interesting to me because of the direction. Although his world is very different from mine keeping this angle aside since my personal preference is totally a different cinema but as a director I felt that he is a young emerging talent and I am sure if you continues, he can become a good filmmaker for Indian cinema the very fact that what he has done is totally different."

He shared that the film is away from the general tropes of a Bollywood film and caters to an important subject, "It seemed to be an offbeat endeavour and a far away from the commonness of Bollywood style. For that reason such outputs are highly valuable. I hope that during the course of his time, he carves a niche and makes films concerning social issues and the difficulties of humanity because I believe Himanshu is a director with a bright future."

Talking about how he approached Majidi, Himanshu said, "Just a few days after the final print of the film was out, I received a call from my partner Akbar Arabiyan, a Pune-based Iranian, who was a respected member of his community and a patron of the arts - he had gotten Mr Majidi to see a brief trailer of the film and evoked some interest in him. Akbar called me at 11 a.m. in a tense voice."

Sharing how the journey to meet Majidi was laced with unfavourable conditions, Himanshu further said, "Mr Majidi was in Trivandrum, heading the jury of a film festival and had agreed to meet me for a coffee and a conversation. That evening, everything that could go wrong did go wrong, the flight was delayed, there was a thunderstorm in Trivandrum, traffic was a snarl, I was only 2 hours late for the coffee meeting and Mr Majidi had gotten busy with other engagements."

"Finally, later in the evening I got an audience with him, he had a childlike shine in his eyes, that is the first thing that struck me and the most generous smile I have seen. All the while he just looked at me intently, he did not seem to bother to listen, the next moment he got up and told the organisers to set up a screening room for 'Chitrakut' the next day," he concluded.

'Chitrakut', presented by Akbar Arabiyan Mojdeh and Mojtaba Movies, has been produced by Akbar Arabiyan, Himanshu Malik, and stars Auritra Ghosh, Vibhore Mayank, Naina Trivedi, Kiran Srinivas and Shruti Bapna.