Remember us going on and on about our fave boutique Bollywood actor’s next feature film, Fireflies? Erm, yeah, we went quiet on that front for a while, but now, we’re back with news of its release date 😀
Yep, this beaut is all set for a wider release on October 31 — SO, you better save the date, flock to the cinemas and… perhaps make it a sooper dooper success… 😉
No, in all seriousness, you gotta catch the film in the theatres (no torrent or illegal downloading, okay??) — it will be the most beautiful cinema experience of your life. Just check out the trailer of this Sabal Singh Shekhawat-directed film — you see what I mean? And how mesmeric is the OST by Nikhil D’Souza? The song’s called Redemption, btw.
Synopsis
Fireflies is the story of two brothers — Shiv and Rana. Shiv, a successful banker, lives in the superficial glitter of corporate Bombay, while the younger brother Rana, a law school dropout, gets by restoring vintage motorcycles at a friend’s garage in the anonymous shadowy by-lanes of Bombay. Though worldly achievements and illusions briefly illuminate the brothers’ journeys, a tragedy that befell them fifteen years ago seems destined to repeat itself, just in newer incarnations. Flames suddenly extinguish again, in an eerie heartbeat… Voices and visions from the past and the magic realism of the years gone by beckon the brothers to find the picture in the puzzle scattered so long ago. Fireflies are the recurring theme of the film; those luminous creations that come out of the darkest of darkness, just to light up the imagination of the innocent. They live their fullest, as long as the glow lasts. Even if it is a lifetime, being lived in a day.
Cast
Rahul Khanna — Shiv
Arjun Mathur — Rana
Monica Dogra — Michelle
Shivani Ghai — Sharmila
Aadya Bedi — Maya
Director’s Statement
On a cold night in New York in the winter of 2005, I got mugged by a group of seven or eight men. I managed to escape without too much damage but it could have been a lot worse.
I lay in bed that night, bruised and confused, trying to understand what had just happened.
As I drifted into a delirious sleep, the last thoughts on my mind were of abject anger. Where does so much hatred come from? What motivates people to operate so heinously? None of the inadequate explanations that surfaced made the cut, even in my fuzzy brain.
The next morning, pumped with a delayed rush of adrenalin and lactic acid, I could barely move. It hurt to brush my teeth. I didn’t know what to do. I had to get the bile out.
So I wrote 40 pages of a turbulent story.
I realized then that I knew many people who were broken and damaged. People who’d lost epic battles to their own twisted projections, in hazy coliseums of love, pain, fear, and disappointment.
My childhood was very organic. I grew up in the jungles and tea gardens of Assam, amongst leopards, tigers, and elephants. And fireflies. Those little crea- tions of light always materialised in the blackest of nights, completely unafraid, illuminating the darkness with the spark they carried within. Here in a beat, and then…somewhere else.
Over the next three months, I wrote Fireflies — a story about change, acceptance and eventual courage.
P. S. The film already premiered last year at the New York Indian Film Festival — to a sold-out theatre and great critical acclaim.