{"id":657529,"date":"2026-06-25T13:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/657529\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:09:13","slug":"acclaimed-bengali-drama-pinjar-lands-international-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/657529\/","title":{"rendered":"Acclaimed Bengali Drama ‘Pinjar’ Lands International Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHazelnut Media<\/a>, the Singapore-based impact production company, has acquired international rights to \u201cPinjar<\/a>,\u201d the Bengali-language feature directed by Kolkata physician and filmmaker Dr. Rudrajit Roy, and will amplify the film\u2019s release through a real-world initiative backing education for girls in rural West Bengal.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is set to open in Indian theaters on July 10.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deal was marked in Kolkata with a white dove release ceremony, drawing on the film\u2019s central motif of liberation. <\/p>\n

\n\tProduced by Chasing Dreams Films in association with Bell Jar Films, \u201cPinjar\u201d \u2013 which translates as \u201cThe Cage\u201d \u2013 centers on five characters whose lives are bound together by a shared inability to break free. Tarak is a bird-catcher who survives by trapping the very flight he cannot attain; his daughter Jhimli comes of age in a world that constrains her before she can find her bearings. Paromita, a widowed teacher, conceals her loneliness behind the cover of duty and routine, while Shefali, a working wife, hides her bruises beneath concealer and silence. Iqbal, a migrant Muslim man, drifts through a city that withholds its welcome. Threading through all their stories is a wild bird \u2013 stolen from the forest, peddled in markets, caged in a home \u2013 whose restlessness becomes an emblem of every character\u2019s longing to be free. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe ensemble cast includes Mamata Shankar, Joy Sengupta, Sagnik Mukherjee, Mallika Banerjee Roy, Satakshi Nandy, Ishan Mazumder, Tathagata Mukherjee, Swastidipa Rabidas, and Samiul Alam. Manas Bhattacharyya served as director of photography, with music by Ratul Shankar. Music rights have been acquired by Pluto Music.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrom the very beginning, we believed in \u2018Pinjar\u2019s\u2019 power to move hearts and spark change,\u201d said Hazelnut Media co-CEOs Olivier A. Dock and Isabella Sreyashii Sen. \u201cOur commitment has been to stand behind the film and its makers, ensuring its story of resilience and freedom reaches audiences worldwide while creating tangible impact on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film has accumulated considerable festival mileage since its world premiere at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival in 2025, also screening at the Asian Film Festival Barcelona, the International Indian Film Festival Toronto, the Indian Film Festival of Sydney, the London Bengali Film Festival, the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal, and Haapifest. At the Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai, Roy received a best director special jury mention.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018Pinjar\u2019 was born from the image of a bird in a cage, a metaphor for the boundaries that shape human lives,\u201d said Roy. \u201cMy vision was to invite viewers to reflect on the cages we inherit and the quiet human desire to transcend them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHazelnut Media, which also serves as executive producer on the film, is mapping an international rollout beyond India, with theatrical and festival plans covering South and Southeast Asia and diaspora markets in the U.K., the Middle East, and Singapore, before moving into wider mainstream theatrical release. The strategy draws on co-CEO Sen\u2019s track record as a rare independent woman theatrical distributor working across South and Southeast Asia \u2013 she has overseen close to 120 international film releases in the region \u2013 alongside co-CEO Dock\u2019s three decades spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The pair previously collaborated on the India\u2013Singapore co-production \u201cEarly Days\u201d and the Iran\u2013Singapore production \u201cTadji,\u201d and co-created Legendia, an international initiative bringing classic cinema to new audiences.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis film was made with sacrifice and conviction,\u201d said Animesh Ganguly, associate producer at Bell Jar Films. \u201cTo see Hazelnut Media champion it globally and connect it to education for girls is deeply affirming of why we made \u2018Pinjar\u2019 in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoy, who practices critical care medicine in Kolkata, developed the film through two years of fieldwork with rural villages and slum communities across West Bengal. His previous shorts include the sci-fi \u201cWavelength,\u201d the drama \u201cMan and Wife,\u201d and the documentary \u201cChasing My Dream,\u201d which alone earned 22 international awards, with the films collectively earning selections at Oscar-qualifying festivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hazelnut Media, the Singapore-based impact production company, has acquired international rights to \u201cPinjar,\u201d the Bengali-language feature directed by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,220683,2839,220684,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-657529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-hazelnut-media","tag-movies","tag-pinjar","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}