PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Bornila Chatterjee, director of the film The Hungry.
Director Bornila Chatterjee presented her film, The Hungry, in competition at the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao. The film is based on William Shakespeare’s goriest play, Titus Andronicus, which she describes as a play known for its gore and violence but undermined by complex themes of power and family. We ask her about what it is that makes Shakespearean works so timeless and so universal. We also ask her about the images of the film, which despite its occasional violent imagery feels like an explosion of colour. This was intentional, as she reveals her wish to depict a “colourful journey that ultimately ends in white.” Chatterjee also talks about her work with the actors and the challenge of keeping everything together, especially while working in a low-budget arena, which prompts one to “learn how to compromise, cheat your way around things.”
The Hungry: This modern-day take on Shakespeare’s bloodiest play Titus Andronicus is set among the fabulously wealthy elite families of north India. The central character is Tulsi Joshi, a widow whose son is about to marry into the Ahuja family, uniting two big business families, when he is discovered dead in the bathtub after an apparent suicide. Two years later Tulsi herself is now about to marry the Ahuja heir but all is not as it seems, and Tulsi believes her son was murdered and she is out for revenge on his killers.
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