DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

I come from a remote village in Assam (North East India).

Coming from a remote village in Assam (Northeast India) and growing up before satellite TV, I knew nothing of World Cinema.

In Mumbai to explore my talents as an actor, I got exposed to the larger film universe. My interest veered towards filmmaking. A short film I made in 2009 was officially selected at the Chicago short film festival and boosted my morale.

One day at a friend's place, a binocular fascinated me. That his father living in a village previously owned it intrigued me further. Back in my village, an idea took seed and I began writing ‘The Man with the Binoculars’ (Antardrishti).

To me the binocular is a metaphor for the bitter reality of human loneliness, struggles, regrets, differences, our constant desire to control others and our surroundings, and our lack of perspective where small things perceived through the binocular of our consciousness makes it excessively large while we ignore the big right in front of us.

Chaudhury, addicted to his binoculars, like most of us, laments the many boats he has missed in life even as things around him break apart. Armed with a binocular, peering into nature, he struggles to bring his past into perspective even as the present of the poetic landscape around him watches him with impassioned eyes.

With little money, a tiny team, and crew and actors, the three years it has taken to make this film seem like an interesting and not easy journey. But then I remind myself that often that is what life is sometimes made of - fragments of an impossible reality.