Short film ‘Kayantar’ reflects on art, religion and gender in today's society

Directed by National Award-winning director duo Sarmistha Maiti and Rajdeep Paul, short film ‘Kayantar’ (Metamorphosis) is set in the backdrop of rural Bengal. It follows a Muslim family carrying on the folk tradition of Behrupiyas or indigenous cosplay performers.
The male performers in different figures perform often playing Hindu gods and goddesses as part of religious celebrations.However, increasingly relegated to a life of poverty because of the dwindling patronage for the traditional art behrupiyas hold on to the repository of folk tales and songs.
The story revolves around Aasia and his brother Aslam. Aasia is keen to dress up as the goddess, and she grabs every opportunity to make her dream a reality. But, since the tradition is forbidden to girls, the mantle now passes on to her brother Aslam, who doesn’t want to carry on the family profession as sees cosplaying a humiliating profession.
It’s an engaging tale of contemporary issues, as the thought-provoking storyline sheds light on the realm of art, artistic expression, desire and freedom. It also shows how a divisive society slowly thwarts one’s dreams and choices. ‘Kayantar’ further questions gender roles and the dichotomy in the representation of a woman as a powerful goddess and how women in reality survive in a society.
Check out the trailer here:
“Kayantar speaks on the poignant tale of every individual across the world who is being discriminated and persecuted everyday for trying to survive as a simple human being challenging the forcefully imposed rigid definitions of ethnic, religious and gender boundaries a fundamentalist society has created over the years,” Sarmistha Maiti shares with us in an exclusive chat while explaining the idea behind ‘Kayantar’.
Rajdeep Paul adds: “We wanted to show how gender binaries lead into an oppressive situation for children. It’s quite identical almost everywhere, irrespective of economic background. The socio-political situation of India, as well as the entire world, where religious fundamentalism and ethnic bigotry are damaging the society and threatening individual existence and aspirations also became a driving force behind this film.”