As the first Bengali film dealing with the adolescent psyche of a loner, termed as a good-for-nothing by the academic world, Phoring, the child protagonist has the same wanderlust as the child in popular Bengali adventure classics.
"Phoring, the young, intrepid character in my film, wishes to reach out to the big, mysterious world outside. He watches Discovery clippings, he loves to cycle to the Dooars greens from his non-descript, defunct industrial township where life stands still," director Indranil Roychowdhury told PTI here.
"I had started the project with an one line reference to make Bari Thekee Paliye by Ritwik Ghatak the way it should look in 2013, but as I elaborated and more dwelt on Phoring's psyche, there emerged the story of a 15 year old, more attuned to the advennturist in numerous adventure classics including Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay's and Sibram Chakraborty's," the debutant feature film maker said.
Like the multi-layered psyche of an adolescent boy's mind, which turns curious about just everything he sees around - from the footages of the unknown nature's domain in cable channels to the physique of a woman he grows curious about - Phoring touches on several issues, a child's inability to communicate with the career world and his liking for a young lady teacher who spots the uncanny spark.
Asked if the teacher-student relationship can be set on parallels as the kid Ishaan in Tare Zameen Par with his male drawing teacher who could understand him better, the director said "If you interprete it that way as the TZP boy was also dubbed an absolute failure by his peers and institutions in the strict sense I have no qualms."
Akash Goswami essays Phoring while Sohini Sarkar, having got critical acclaims for her role as a young, naively romantic girl in Rupkatha Noy, etches out Doyel, the teacher who spots the unconventional nature of the boy.
About casting the child actor Phoring, the title itself bringing glimpses of childhood spent in villages, Indranil said "He did not know the significance of the scenes. We just moulded him for our script and excited with the picnic-like bonhomie outside the shooting zone, he delivered perfectly the way I wanted."
"It is Phoring's journey as an adolescent in real and metaphorical sense and no other children's film has dealt the topic this way," the director said.
Produced by Saugata Bal (Das) and Anasua Roy Chowdhury Phoring is slated for release on September 27.
