Director Mehran Amrohi, talks with Subhash K Jha about his brilliant film on lost childhood Chidiya.
What are your feelings as Chidiya has finally been released after a ten-year wait?
Honestly, Sir, I’m very emotional. I may be a writer, but I don’t think I have the words to express it. This is my first film, and I shot it nearly 10 years ago. The fact that it’s finally releasing means a lot to me. At the same time, I’m also nervous — just like a student before an exam. Your steps feel unsure, your words feel jumbled… but somewhere inside, there’s hope.
Child labour is a sensitive subject. How did you handle it in your film?
Chidiya isn’t about just one issue. It’s a story about ordinary lives, the kind many people live every day, especially in financially weaker sections. Yes, child labour exists...
What are your feelings as Chidiya has finally been released after a ten-year wait?
Honestly, Sir, I’m very emotional. I may be a writer, but I don’t think I have the words to express it. This is my first film, and I shot it nearly 10 years ago. The fact that it’s finally releasing means a lot to me. At the same time, I’m also nervous — just like a student before an exam. Your steps feel unsure, your words feel jumbled… but somewhere inside, there’s hope.
Child labour is a sensitive subject. How did you handle it in your film?
Chidiya isn’t about just one issue. It’s a story about ordinary lives, the kind many people live every day, especially in financially weaker sections. Yes, child labour exists...
- 5/30/2025
- by Subhash K Jha
- Bollyspice
Writer-Director Mehran Amrohi, who has struggled for ten years to finally get his directorial debut into movie theatres, deserves a standing ovation for his minimalist masterpiece.
Chidiya is a gem of a film, an instant classic, if you will. It conveys what the director so succinctly describes as “the joy in scarcity” with such an austere stare at neo-realism, I immediately want to put him up there with the masters of neo-realism, Vittorio de Sica and Satyajit Ray.
The theme of “joy in scarcity” characterized de Sica’s Bicycle Thieves as much as Ray’s Pather Panchali. Echoes of past greatness do not colour the contemporary texture and the lucidly lensed chawl life of Amrohi’s simple yet strong supple saga of the survival of the frailest section of our society.
Amrohi lets his two young protagonists, Shanu and his kid brother Bua, played with wondrous spontaneity by Svar Kamble...
Chidiya is a gem of a film, an instant classic, if you will. It conveys what the director so succinctly describes as “the joy in scarcity” with such an austere stare at neo-realism, I immediately want to put him up there with the masters of neo-realism, Vittorio de Sica and Satyajit Ray.
The theme of “joy in scarcity” characterized de Sica’s Bicycle Thieves as much as Ray’s Pather Panchali. Echoes of past greatness do not colour the contemporary texture and the lucidly lensed chawl life of Amrohi’s simple yet strong supple saga of the survival of the frailest section of our society.
Amrohi lets his two young protagonists, Shanu and his kid brother Bua, played with wondrous spontaneity by Svar Kamble...
- 5/28/2025
- by Subhash K Jha
- Bollyspice
Debutant director Mehran Amrohi’s Chidiya which finally gets an all-India release May 30 after travelling to several national and international festival, is a rare film about the mind of children that doesn’t talk down to them.
Usually, we either have films with children as protagonists that are patronizing in tone: the cinematic equivalent of lisp-talking to children and pinching their cheeks.
Or we have children in our films who behave as if they have been cloned from an app: bratty, all-knowing eye-rollers.
Chidiya does none of this. Its innocence is daunting. Amrohi inhabits the child’s psyche unconditionally. There is no attempt to prod the plot into pointed productivity or manipulate the impressionable minds. The two child actors, Svar Kamble and Ayush Pathak, don’t behave like actors. Neither does the exquisite adult cast.
It has taken Amrohi a while to get here.
Shabana Azmi, who resolutely champions the cause of cinema for children,...
Usually, we either have films with children as protagonists that are patronizing in tone: the cinematic equivalent of lisp-talking to children and pinching their cheeks.
Or we have children in our films who behave as if they have been cloned from an app: bratty, all-knowing eye-rollers.
Chidiya does none of this. Its innocence is daunting. Amrohi inhabits the child’s psyche unconditionally. There is no attempt to prod the plot into pointed productivity or manipulate the impressionable minds. The two child actors, Svar Kamble and Ayush Pathak, don’t behave like actors. Neither does the exquisite adult cast.
It has taken Amrohi a while to get here.
Shabana Azmi, who resolutely champions the cause of cinema for children,...
- 5/23/2025
- by Subhash K Jha
- Bollyspice
Actress Aishwarya Rajesh, best known for having delivered spectacular performances in critically acclaimed superhits such as ‘Kaaka Muttai’, ‘Kanaa’ and ‘Vada Chennai’, will next play the lead in a Tamil-Hindi bilingual that’s been titled ‘Manik’.
Endemol Shine India, a leading production house, has partnered with Nutmeg Productions to make this film, which will be a psychological thriller.
Aishwarya, who is very popular in South cinema, has already featured in a Hindi movie called ‘Daddy’.
Samrat Chakraborty, who has penned films like ‘Ludo’, ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and ‘Chhatrasal’ is to direct the film, which will also feature actors Samyuktha Shanmuganathan, Vivek Prasanna, Sai Janani and Svar Kamble in supporting roles.
“The psychological thriller genre is currently hot in India and we are seeing a huge audience base for this kind of cinema that engages the viewer from start to finish. We are delighted to bring ‘Manik’ to the audience with its...
Endemol Shine India, a leading production house, has partnered with Nutmeg Productions to make this film, which will be a psychological thriller.
Aishwarya, who is very popular in South cinema, has already featured in a Hindi movie called ‘Daddy’.
Samrat Chakraborty, who has penned films like ‘Ludo’, ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and ‘Chhatrasal’ is to direct the film, which will also feature actors Samyuktha Shanmuganathan, Vivek Prasanna, Sai Janani and Svar Kamble in supporting roles.
“The psychological thriller genre is currently hot in India and we are seeing a huge audience base for this kind of cinema that engages the viewer from start to finish. We are delighted to bring ‘Manik’ to the audience with its...
- 11/4/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
2017 was not a great year for new talent. Unless we look at Mahira Khan as new talent. And that would be as calamitous as giving Diljit Dosanjh the best debutant’s award in 2016 for Udta Punjab. So who were the newcomers to really make an impact this year? Here are listing the likes of Matin Rey Tangu, Sajal Ali, and Ashish Bisht to Khushmeet Gill, Aadar Jain, Svar Kamble, Parvathi and others that have made an impact in the year that was.
The post #2017Recap: 11 Newcomers who made an impact in 2017 appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
The post #2017Recap: 11 Newcomers who made an impact in 2017 appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
- 12/27/2017
- by Subhash K. Jha
- BollywoodHungama
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