Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak will be showcased at the Berlin Film Fest

Nagesh Kukunoor and Flora Saini

After the critically acclaimed Lakshmi about a teenage prostitute, Nagesh Kukunoor has wrapped up the shooting of his next, Dhanak. Similar to the film-maker’s earlier films like Iqbal, Dor and Lakshmi, Dhanak too will have the audience walk away with something to mull over. In fact, the film has already been selected for the 65th Berlin International Film Festival that starts on February 5, 2015 where it will compete in the Generation KPlus category, that screens movies with protagonists who are 14 years old and below.
Talking about his project, an ecstatic Kukunoor reveals that Dhanak (meaning rainbow) has a central character with a disability— an eight-year-old blind boy whose 11 year old sister promises him that he will get his vision back before he turns 10.
“The film which is set in a small town also examines how the country, especially people living in small villages are obsessed with Bollywood superstars and how their larger-than-life persona looms over their life. The story idea about a little blind boy and his sister living in a small village was told to me by a friend. I didn’t dwell on it much till one day I saw a blind boy holding his sister’s hand and walking across a desert landscape. And it’s literally out of that image that the story of Dhanak came out,” revealed Kukunoor, adding that two thirds of the film is the children’s magical road journey to get the child’s eyesight back during which they meet a whole bunch of colourful characters.
Suresh Menon, Ninad Kamath, Flora Saini and others, play the characters who interact with the children.
Ask him if Shah Rukh Khan has done a cameo in the film as reported, and he laughed.
“SRK’s stardom is vital to the story and marks a conclusive end to the children’s journey, but beyond that, I can’t say much,” said the film-maker who is getting the print ready for the festival.