Jahnabi

A Water Colour Dream

Eleven International Film Festivals
Theatrical Release at Ilkley Cinema, U.K.

Screened at Amazon Prime (USA & U.K.), Mubi India, Shorted India, Cinemapreneur

Filmed across
19 Riverine Ecosystems

The young girl married off at an age where the notion of a marriage had not yet been comprehended, to the gradual onset of her disillusionment with her loveless existence, the natural escaping into a dream world of make belief, where Jahnabi and Lohit are never far from each other; to the final embracing of the truth that Lohit will remain the distant dream that he always was- these are the various milestones in the journey of Jahnabi. So you may ask- why this movie at this time, in such a context? The story of Jahnabi is not just the story of a particular woman or womankind as a whole. It is the story of humanity, and the river flows through it , in her reality and her dreams like life blood itself.

The film’s open-endedness describes the constant narrative of a river flowing in our body and soul. Knowingly and unknowingly the rhythm of our lives follow the course of eternal water. The musical journey it is, which is endless – flowing like wind through our veins encapsulates the great acceptance of a woman and a river as Mother nature. It is our greater shame that we fail to acknowledge her contribution to our philosophy. The film being a lyrical flow of human emotions stitch us to a bigger question of our existence as fragile decision makers along with our failure to reciprocate Mother nature as she does to us. The contradiction of chauvinistic worshiping nature of ours to the simplistic beliefs of life becomes a bigger tragedy and regularly threatens nature’s trust in us. A lone river and a lone woman tells us this ever present tale of our lives.

Much like the woman, the deification of the river is an ancient practice. So the river here is our mighty Ganga- and she has had a million tales woven on her and around her. Deity, Goddess, celestial river, controlled by no one less than Lord Shiva, she is the womb of the mainstays of our culture and heritage. The central protagonist in our film, Jahnabi represents every woman in her loving, longing, abundance, deprivation –her very existence. Her silences, her moods, her aspirations, her disappointments all find echo in the River as it runs its course. The essence of this film is the relatability between the protagonist’s life and thoughts and the mighty river that flows by.