In a voyage into the psyche of a child, Phoring, the first Bengali film on a boy's obsession with his lady teacher, deals with his journey to the intriguing outside world on the lines of Ritwik Ghatak's classic Bari Theke Paliye.
"Phoring, the adolescent is a loner in the conventional sense who loves to more communicate with the grasshopper, trees than fellow human beings. But he is more endowed with certain qualities in life which normal kids don't possess," Director Indranil Chowdhury said.
"When I had talks with the producers, my one line reference point was that it would be the escapade stoy of the little boy in Bari Theke Paliye but retold in the milieu of 2012," Chowdhury said.
About casting the child actor Akash in the role of Phoring, the title itself bringing glimpses of childhood spent in villages, Indranil said "He was a naural actor.
"And he gave shots and proper expressions as asked. He gave perfect shots for a dream sequence. He needed not know the intricacies of that sequence. As a child you can see andd take things at face value. Phoring has shots and visuals to bring back the child among all of us."
Doyel, the lady teacher who changes life of Phoring, the Taare Zameen Par kid in terms of flunking wih number crunchers at class, comes up in the boy's thoughts and dreams and vanishes one day but the film's makers will leave it just there before the local premier.
"I couldn't gauge the significance of the shots. I don't know any boy like Phoring. But I enjoyed the shooting experience. May be I will understand the shots more after watching the film," Akash said.
A child from north Bengal Phoring leaves for the mysterious outside world one day, like the precocious boy in shibram chakroborty story, filmed by maverick genius Ritwik, and the director seeks to place the parallel in the age of cell phones.
"Phoring is a bridge between childhood dreams and adulthood. It has a simplicity and innocence you will find among children how much tech savvy they can be. Also it talks about their inquisitiveness," said the director.
Produced by Saugata Bal (Das) and Anasua Roy Chowdhury Phoring is slated for release on September 27.
