This Is Not A Documentary by Tathagata Ghosh and T Square Productions

I am privileged, in many ways. One of my favorite privileges is to know and work among rising stars in the field of film and publishing. It’s humbling and exciting. Earlier this month, a young filmmaker from Howrah, India, named Tathagata Ghosh shared with me another of his catalog. Ghosh is a young filmmaker working with T Square productions, who attended the Vancouver Film School and St. Xavier’s College (Kolkata). He’s a screenwriter and director. Now and then, he asks for my opinion of his work, and I am more than happy to review it. He’s someone you keep an eye on. His work has noticeably improved, which I suspected it would when I saw the first film. He IS that good and he’s going to be that much better and fast! I am privileged to meet him at the start of his journey and watch him grow.

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Ghosh On This Is Not A Documentary:

Some confidential documentary footages! A big racket! Some hidden secrets. A landscape of suspicious characters! One detective solving one mystery after one another! The darkest alleys of Kolkata! But this is not a documentary! Then what?

 

“This film was shot on a schedule of 10 days. The pre-production took up a lot of time. We visited various parts of Kolkata for location scouting and discovered a lot of unknown facts about the city. We visited the brothels quite often. Me and my lead actor (Gour Gopala) talked with various pimps and sex workers there. It was quite risky initially but as we got to know them, closely we found out more about their lives and won their trust. They are some of the nicest people I know. Thus, this film helped all involved to grow a lot as people.

On the creative side, my cinematographer and editor brainstormed a lot about the lighting scheme and the color palette that was used for the film. This is my 4th big project and I think the most satisfying journey as a whole.“

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It shows, Mr. Ghosh. I look forward to more work from you. The lighting and color palette was quite effective and the interest in the subject was evident through the images and story. I was engaged the entire time, though some of the film is not translated for English speakers. It wasn’t difficult to understand what was going on.

This Is Not A Documentary is a detective film. It’s gritty and harkens to much of the noir catalog that loved grizzled detectives. Preetam Ganguly plays that detective with skill and precision. He is surrounded by a supporting cast that compliments his skill wonderfully. The people are real, experiencing real life in the darkest of shadows. It doesn’t color things with the sunshine glitz of Hollywood that just makes it all like a dream. I guess that’s why they had to remind you in the title this isn’t a documentary. It really is a film. So close to life, it might feel otherwise.

The team really pulled this together for the audience, and I think it transcends culture easily. I hope they will submit this on the Indie festival circuit throughout the world. Your support of the film can help make that happen. You can view the film on Youtube.com below…