Keekli Reporter, 28th November, 2018, Shimla
‘Amar Colony’ set in a fictitious chawl which is blessed by gods, making its inhabitants immortal, as long as they are inside the edifice. Written by Shimla based award winning filmmaker – Siddharth Chauhan, the film is an ensemble cast drama focusing on three families trapped in their mundane existence.
Amar Colony is the 1st Himachali project (based in Himachal Pradesh, by a filmmaker from Himachal Pradesh) to have made it to the Co-Production Market. This year’s selection embodies an eclectic mix of diverse themes, topics, and voices across languages and genres, that selected 19 projects with South Asian themes from 8 Countries including – India, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Germany, Sri Lanka, and USA. For an independently run production house based in Shimla, it is a matter of immense pride that our first feature film project titled “AMAR COLONY” has been selected for the NFDC Film Bazaar Co-production Market 2018.
Film Bazaar is the largest South Asian film market which was held from 20-24th November, 2018 in Goa at The Marriot Resort. It encourages creative and financial collaboration between the South Asian and International film communities.
About the making of the film, the director said, “Amar Colony is a satire on the hollowness of the lives we live. I wrote the first draft of this script in 2016 and then it kept evolving with time. It’s an extension of my short film ‘PAPA’ which also won the Satyajit Ray Award in London in 2017. I revised the script two to three times in 2017 and had the fourth draft lying on my table in 2018. I thought why not give it a shot! I was surprised to know that in my very first attempt my script cleared all the rounds & was selected.”
He further added that, “I have just returned from Goa where I had an orientation session and a few meetings with some French and German Producers. The response is overwhelming! I ignored this story for the longest time and never thought that it would resonate with everyone but I was wrong! Everybody loved the idea and I am very sure that this is going to be my first feature film now! Like all my films this one too will be shot in Himachal with a local cast and crew.”
Over the years, films such as Lunch Box, Margarita with a Straw, Chauthi Koot, Qissa, Ship of Theseus, Titli, Court, Anhe Ghode Da Daan, Miss Lovely, Dum Lagake Haisha, Liar’s Dice and Thithi have been through one or more programmes of the Bazaar.
