Gamak Ghar
Achal Mishra
India. 2019. 91 min
The film takes place in the ancestral home in Madhopur village in Bihar. Gamak Ghar (The house in the village) unfolds over three phases – 1998, 2010 and the present. The members of the clan live elsewhere and reconvene in the house on festivals. They make trips to their mango orchard, catch up on the gossip, watch television together and take dips in the local pool for Chhath Puja celebrations.
Over the years, the number of visitors dwindles. The house starts to lose its sparkle, partly because of recurring floods, and there is talk of reconstructing it.
The film is in the Maithili language spoken in the region. The characters are based on Mishra’s family members, and are played by neighbours and other villagers. A photograph of the family patriarch, the playwright and actor Kedar Nath Mishra, is a talismanic presence in the film. He is not a creature of the imagination, but is actually the director’s grandfather.
ACHAL MISHRA
Achal Mishra is a 22-year-old, self-taught filmmaker and photographer. A native of Darbhanga – a small town in the North Indian state of Bihar, he started making films during his school days, and went on to undergraduate Film Studies at King’s College. After a brief stint in London, which was largely spent watching and absorbing cinema, he returned to India and has been making short films since then. Gamak Ghar is his first feature film.
MAKING OF
POSTER
CONTACT
Achal Mishra : achal.mishra@icloud.com
imagineindiafestival.com 