Shot entirely in Odisha, ‘Adiyu Goddard’ is the story of an old man named Anand, who is addicted to pornography and secretly watches adult movies with some men in the evening.
Shot entirely in Odisha, ‘Adiyu Goddard’ is the story of an old man named Anand, who is addicted to pornography and secretly watches adult movies with some men in the evening.
When the team of Odia film ‘Adiu Godard’ went to shoot a scene in rural Odisha, they actually had to show a film by the famous French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard to the locals.
Director Amartya Bhattacharya said that it is anyone’s guess how angry the villagers must have been for bringing the villagers to one place and showing them a French film which they do not understand.
“We were actually doing what we were trying to portray in the film,” he told PTI, pointing to the operational challenges of shooting for the film, which released on Friday.
Shot entirely in Odisha, ‘Adiyu Goddard’ is the story of an old man named Anand, who is addicted to pornography and secretly watches adult movies with some men in the evening.
One day, the protagonist, Chaudhary Bikash Das, mistakenly brings home a DVD mistaken for pornography. But it turned out to be the 1960s cinema Breathless, Goddard’s first and most iconic film.
Anand is attracted by novelty and gradually develops a passion. Then, he attempts to organize a film festival on Goddard in his village.
The film’s name suggests that it is a tribute to Goddard, but according to Bhattacharya it is not the quintessential tribute film.
The National Award winner said, “This film has the potential to reach a lot of people as it is not boring or slow at all like a typical art film. It is very engaging and entertaining.”
Bhattacharya said the film was not a promotional film and the dark satire underlined the importance of cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
He said that there the message of the film cannot be conveyed in one line and it is not the spoon-feeding of typical art films, which will try to impose a statement on the audience.
Bhattacharya doesn’t like to make films that impose some instructive stuff. “The film also has a lot of educational value, but it comes through organically,” he said, adding that every viewer will have some messages to take back.
He felt blessed that Adieu became the first Odia film to have a world premiere at the Goddard Moscow International Film Festival. It has been to around 20 international festivals and won six awards including Best Picture in the Indian Languages section at the prestigious Kolkata International Film Festival this year.