Malai (Ice-cream) [Shorts Session 5]
A low-caste rural boy from interior India goes to attend the local political leader’s son’s wedding, along with his mother and two siblings, excited at the prospect of having a grand meal, especially his favourite ice-cream, referred to as ‘Malai’ in the local tongue. But he instead discovers the dark side of the Great Indian Wedding – a wake-up to the harshness of the society and the saga of discrimination and exploitation of the weak, poor, low-caste, women and even children that continues in the name of tradition in our country even after nearly two decades in the new millennium. Relegated to doing manual labour for little money to entertain the rich and empowered people as they rejoice and celebrate the grand marriage ceremony, the family has to pay too great a price to earn too little – a little boy’s wish for an ice-cream. Set in the rough rocky terrain of interior Odisha, the film is a tale of a little boy’s loss of innocence and a cinematic protest against the social injustice and inequalities like caste hierarchy, female exploitation and child abuse prevalent in our society and the indifference and hypocrisy of the empowered and educated people towards them.
Director
Sarmistha Maiti and Rajdeep Paul are independent filmmakers, alumni of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), India and recipients of the National Film Award from the Honourable President of India for the feature length documentary film “At the Crossroads Nondon Bagchi Life and Living” at the 61st National Film Awards, 2013. The duo has written and directed several documentary films, short fiction films, PSA, Animation and New Media films etc. They have worked with both international and national producers of repute like PBS & ShowOfForce, USA, Native Voices, UK, Films Division, Doordarshan, Prasar Bharti & Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Aurora Film Corporation, Krish Movies etc from India. Triambigram Arts happens to be their production company. Their debut feature film script “The Biryani Seller” has undergone mentorship in the first edition of Mumbai Mantra Cinerise Screenwriting Programme 2014-15 from the likes of Michael Radford, Audrey Wells, Sebastian Cordero, Sriram Raghavan and Anjum Rajabali, and was one of the 18 official selections in NFDC Film Bazaar Co-Production Market 2016.
Festivals/Awards
International Film Festival of South Asia (BMO IFFSA), International Documentary & Short Film Festival of Kerala, Tasveer South Asian Film Festival (TSAFF)