Samuel Street, directed by Aliakbar Campwala will get a Cannes Screening next month. . . . reports Asian Lite News
Aliakbar Campwala’s latest directorial masterpiece, Samuel Street is all set to hit the Cannes film Festival next month. In this movie, he explores the dynamic emotions and struggles of the middle-class in the commercial capital of India- Mumbai. Amidst the cosmopolitan outlook of the city, the daily hustle and bustle of the numerous people; the voices and struggles of a common man is subdued in this Mayanagri.
Samuel Street is named after one of the oldest streets in Mumbai and revolves around few select characters. The central roles are of a young man who has returned from the UK to a city which is beyond his recognition and imagination; a mother who clings to her traditional values in this dynamic society and a UK based prison officer. The lives of these three characters continuously cross paths and maintain the continuity of the movie. While veteran actor Sarita Joshi plays the role of the mother, newcomers Saif Thakur and Anne Adams have also done justice to their roles as the UK returned man and prison officer respectively.
The movie is successful in exploring the themes of identity, culture and isolation felt by the Mumbaikaars, in the city of dreams. But, the real hero of the movie is the city itself. Making a movie about Mumbai would mean to defy all the stereotypical notions about the city and progress with a fresh thought process, which is indeed difficult to fathom. Film-maker Aliakbar Campwala comments,”Making a film in Mumbai has been one of the toughest aspects of filmmaking in my career as you have to go through a lot of social stereotypes and barriers to create something completely different from normal that can also appeal to communities worldwide”.
