Kolkata / Paris: Bengali cinema and theatre are set to receive a significant international spotlight as Pagla Ghoda, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Das and produced by DrPrabir Bhowmik for Swabhumi Entertainment, has been selected as the Opening Film of the Gange sur Seine Film Festival in Paris.
The film will be screened at the prestigious Club de l’Étoile, located in the heart of ParisThe international presentation is particularly significant as it brings a contemporary cinematic interpretation of the work of legendary playwright Badal Sircar to a wider global audience during the year commemorating his birth centenary.
A Story of Death, Desire and Buried Truths
Based on Badal Sircar’s seminal play Pagla Ghoda, the film unfolds over a single night at a remote cremation ground in the forests of West Bengal.
Four men from different social and professional backgrounds gather for the cremation of a young woman who has died by suicideAs the funeral pyre burns, the men drink, play cards and engage in seemingly casual conversation.
As the night progresses, however, the boundary between the living and the dead begins to blur.
The dead woman’s unnamed spirit silently enters their worldThe four men cannot see or hear her, nor are they aware of her presenceYet her invisible presence gradually brings to the surface stories that they have long buried.
One after another, the men begin recounting stories of the women in their livesFour different relationships emerge, each shaped by its own circumstances, yet connected by uncomfortable patterns of control, social hypocrisy, possessiveness, emotional exploitation and an unwillingness to confront personal responsibility.
In each story, it is ultimately a woman who pays the price.
The unnamed young woman listening to these confessions is confronted with a different kind of tragedyHer life was not defined by a great romance, forbidden passion or dramatic emotional conflictHer deepest regret was that she had never truly experienced love or profound emotional connection.
Her death therefore becomes more than an escape from sufferingIt becomes the tragic culmination of a life in which she felt she had never truly been seen, touched or emotionally understood.
Through this haunting narrative, Pagla Ghoda explores desire, repression, patriarchy, emotional isolation and the silence surrounding women’s suffering.
From Bengali Theatre to an International Screen
For producer DrPrabir Bhowmik, the Paris opening represents an important cultural moment.
Rooted in Bengal’s rich theatrical heritage, Pagla Ghoda carries Badal Sircar’s distinctive artistic legacy into the language of cinema and, through the festival, into an international cultural space.
According to Bhowmik, the objective of Swabhumi Entertainment has been to bring the richness, depth and continuing relevance of works by legendary literary and theatrical figures to contemporary audiences through cinema.
The producer believes that adapting significant literary and theatrical works for the screen is not merely an exercise in preserving heritage, but also a way of creating a new dialogue between those works and the present.
Cinema, he notes, can travel beyond language, geography and cultural boundaries because emotions such as love, grief, loneliness, helplessness, regret, desire and the need for human connection are universal.
The Paris screening therefore represents an opportunity to place a distinctly Bengali artistic work within a wider international conversation.
Shekhar Das: “It Feels Like Coming Home”
For director Shekhar Das, the Paris screening carries a deeply personal significance.
Badal Sircar was not only a celebrated playwright, director and actor, but also one of the most influential figures in modern Indian theatre and a pioneering voice of Third TheatreSircar had also spent a period of his life in Paris for professional reasons.
Das describes bringing Pagla Ghoda back to Paris during the centenary year of Badal Sircar’s birth as having an almost poetic significance.
The film’s screening at Club de l’Étoile will also allow it to reach French audiences, members of the Bengali community, filmmakers, artists and viewers interested in Indian theatre and cinema.
Earlier this year, the film also had a private screening at the Cannes Film Festival following an invitation from AngénieuxThe Paris screening, however, offers the film an opportunity to connect with a much wider audience.
For Das, the journey is simultaneously a celebration of cinema and a tribute to Badal Sircar — whose work questioned conventional ideas surrounding society, human relationships, love, loneliness and responsibility.
A Film Built on a Strong Ensemble
The film features an ensemble cast including:
Gargi Roychowdhury
Sujan Mukhopadhyay
Rajatava Dutta
Jayanta Hore
Ritabrata Mukherjee
Chandreyee Ghosh
Srijita Saha
Dirghayi Pal
The creative team includes:
Director: Shekhar Das
Producer: DrPrabir Bhowmik
Executive Producer: Bipasha Ghoshal
Director of Photography: Supratim Bhol
Editor: Arghyakamal Mitra
Music: Indraadip Dasgupta
Production Design: Manas Ray
Sound Design: Anindit Roy & Adip Singh Manki
Costume Design: Bipasha Ghoshal
Public Relations: Rana Basu Thakur
The Actors on Badal Sircar and the Film
Actor Ritabrata Mukherjee, who plays Himadri, the youngest of the four men, describes being part of the film as a privilege, particularly during Badal Sircar’s birth centenary year.
According to Mukherjee, Sircar was not merely a playwright but a pioneer who transformed the language and practice of Indian theatreHe describes working with Shekhar Das as a particularly meaningful experience and praises the ensemble cast and the film’s visual design.
Actor Rajatava Dutta describes the Paris selection as another significant milestone in the film’s journey, which began in 2025 as an effort to commemorate Badal Sircar’s centenary.
For Dutta, the film’s international journey is only beginningHe believes the universal human questions at the heart of Sircar’s work can resonate with audiences beyond linguistic and geographical boundaries.
Actor Sujan Mukhopadhyay, a theatre practitioner himself, considers Pagla Ghoda an important work in the history of Indian theatreHe points to the play’s psychological depth, its examination of human relationships and its strong feminist dimension.
Mukhopadhyay also highlights the rehearsal process undertaken before filming, describing the opportunity to explore the characters and text with the director as particularly valuable.
He hopes the film will travel widely after its Paris premiere and reach audiences across India and beyond.
For Gargi Roychowdhury, the international selection represents a moment of pride for the entire teamShe emphasises that while Pagla Ghoda is deeply rooted in Bengal’s theatrical and literary heritage, its themes of human relationships, emotions and inner conflict transcend cultural and geographical boundaries.
A Cultural Bridge Between Bengal and France
The Gange sur Seine Film Festival provides Pagla Ghoda with an opportunity to create a cultural bridge between Bengal and France.
The connection is particularly meaningful given Badal Sircar’s own association with Paris and the city’s long-standing relationship with theatre, cinema and intellectual culture.
The film’s international journey also reflects the ability of regional stories to enter a wider cultural conversation without losing their original identity.
At its core, Pagla Ghoda remains a distinctly Bengali work — yet the questions it raises about love, repression, responsibility, loneliness, desire and human connection are not confined to Bengal.
A Tribute and a New Beginning
The Paris premiere is being regarded by the film’s team not as an endpoint, but as the beginning of a longer journey.
From the theatrical legacy of Badal Sircar to contemporary Bengali cinema, from Bengal to Paris, Pagla Ghoda carries with it a story that seeks to cross linguistic, geographical and cultural boundaries.
As the film opens the Gange sur Seine Film Festival, it brings with it the legacy of one of India’s most influential theatre practitioners and a cinematic interpretation that invites audiences to look beneath the surface of human relationships.
The journey of Pagla Ghoda has begun — and its gallop continues beyond borders.
