Documentary on three women theatre artists winning hearts

A documentary on three veteran theatre artists directed by

Sohini Dasgupta

is being appreciated from all corners after it was screened at the 25th

Kolkata International film Festival

recently.

‘

Drama Queens

’ revolves around three veteran theatre artists of India and the changes they brought, the styles they crafted, the journey they continue. They belong to different parts of India working with three different genres of theatre where they are masters. Their passion for theatre, a male-dominated foray for long, made them face most dire challenges.

Their chequered lives have been through sexual abuse, murder of beloved, being termed as a “whore” and much more. Yet nothing could keep them away from theatre.

Drama Queens focuses on the maestros who are women; B. Jayashree from Bengaluru, Moloyashree Hashmi from Delhi and

Sabitri Heisnam

from Manipur — three ground-breaking women of Indian drama world.

The 52-minute documentary is in English and has subtitles in Kannad, Hindi and Meitei. While script and direction are by Sohini herself, cinematography is by Abheri De. Music for the documentary is scored by Subhadeep Sengupta and the editing has been done by Amitava Dasgupta.

Sohini made her directorial debut in 2017 with a critically acclaimed film

'Chhoti Moti Batein

’ starring Khulbhushan Kharbanda, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Ananya Chatterjee in the lead. An assistant to filmmaker Budhadeb Dasgupta for over a decade, Sohini has worked on some of his projects like ‘Swapner Din’ (Chased by Dreams), ‘Kal Purush’, ‘The Voyeurs’ and ‘Anwar ka Ajab Kissa’.