Sarmistha Maiti: ‘Mon Potongo’ celebrates a desire that’s maligning, destroying yet liberating

Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti floored all those cine buffs who enjoy the seriousness in the art of films with their experimental feature film ‘Kalkokkho’. And now, after working with magical realism and existential horror in their previous films, the director duo is back with yet another twisting tale of human emotions. The film, titled ‘Mon Potongo’, sees the debut of tow promising actors Subhankar Mohanto and Baishakhi Roy in the lead. The cast also has ace Bollywood actress Seema Biswas, Joy Sengupta, Tannishtha Biswas, Amit Saha, Anindita Ghosh, Janardan Ghosh, Tribikram Ghosh, Aninda Roy and others in key roles.

Speaking about how their latest film has been conceptualized, Sarmistha Maiti explains, “When I was just a little girl maa used say you have to be Lokkhi, maa used to say be a caged bird but I wanted to fly, I wanted to climb up to the crown. That’s how I used to dream and Mon Pontongo is about this dream; the dream for which we can go to any extent. It’s an ode to the flight of desire. It’s a tale of desire which we are not even allowed to dream of within the brackets of our social identity and yet we dare to pursue that.”

On the other hand, Rajdeep sheds light on the real essence of the plot that’s loaded with twists and turns, “Mon Potongo or Mind Flies is a celebration of that desire which is maligning, destroying and yet liberating. The seeds of this film were sawed much before our previous film Kalkokkho was conceptualized before the treats and paranoia of pandemic disrupted our lives. We compensated the coloulessness and the darkness within the walls of Kalkokkho with the bright, vibrantly burst colourful exterior world that we will see in Mon Potongo.”

Interestingly, this film marks the return of ‘Bandit Queen’ fame Seema Biswas to Bengali films after 13 long years. ‘Mon Potongo’ narrates the story of a madly-in-love inter-faith couple who run away from the village fearing persecution and finds shelter on the open pavements of the city streets.

As they get accustomed to the harsh life on the streets their minds are enchanted by a throne like “Seat of Power” inside an exquisite furniture showroom which they want to gift to and and share with each other as a token of their love. The ambitious couple doesn’t want to be like insects that crawl and get crushed on the roads. They want to climb up the social ladder so that they can attain their desired “seat of power”. Their obsession to attain that seat leads them through the tempting by-lanes of wealth, intellectuality and power while meeting a cast of colourful characters.

While Rana Pratap Karforma is the DOP of the film, Avijit Kundu has composed the music for the film.
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