Title of film : Metamorphosis
Cast & crew :
Producer : Anjan Bose
Editor : Sarmistha Maiti,Rajdeep Paul
Cast :
Synopsis : Aasia belongs to a clan of Bahurupis – indigenous street cosplay performers - who dress up as Hindu deities despite being Muslims by birth. She wants to adopt her father Ali’s art of metamorphosing into Kali, the black Goddess of Time, Power and Liberation, but being a woman she is not allowed to take up the conventionally male profession. Instead, the now decrepit Ali, forces the traditional family profession onto his son Aslam who detests it fearing ridicule, persecution and for its waning popularity. Despite poverty and hardship the small family lives freely in the fringes of the village society in the lap of nature influenced by the religious syncretism of the Baul-Fakir mystics, tolerated by both Hindus and Muslims. But a sudden surge of religious fundamentalism is raising a storm in the society that will transform their lives forever. Set in the backdrop of the lush green tapestry of rural Bengal, the film breaks away from stereotypical representations of particular communities and explores the undefined zone in which real human beings exist beyond the rigid definitions of communal and ethnic identities. While narrating a story rooted in its milieu, the film reflects themes of universal concern and takes an insightful look into the age-old evils of gender binaries, religious fundamentalism and communal disharmony plaguing human society even today and is an earnest cinematic appeal to look beyond such myopic glasses of discrimination and celebrate humanity simply as human beings.