By OUR STAFF REPORTER
“Enjoy-Pleasure Paradox”, an award winning ‘arthouse’ short film by writer/director
Vikram Bhandari from Dehradun has been released for public viewing online. The
film was at several renowned film festivals in India including the Delhi international
film festival, Kolkata International film festival and won the “Honourable Jury
Mention Award” at the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival.
The film is about the encounter between a married man, Rahul, and Jaanvi, a call
girl living in Gurgaon. But it’s more than just a rendezvous between them. It
explores deeper issues of life like action and consequences, pursuit of happiness
and one’s personal morals and standards.
Rahul, an average middle class Indian is in “pursuit of happiness”. He works long
hours at a real estate company desperate to earn that extra commission so he can
save money to one day build his own business – a restaurant.
On one of his business trips to New Delhi he meets a prostitute, Jaanvi. She is
smart, quick witted and lives a “carpe diem” life. She is choosy about her clients
and caters to the high society. During their meeting there is a conflict of their
philosophy of life and their morals.
“Enjoy-Pleasure Paradox” is a story about the conflict of worldviews of two lonely
people, leading two totally different lives.
The female lead is played by Monika Wahlgren, who is half Swedish, half Indian and
has worked in several commercials and a few south Indian films.
Vipin Naik a theatre actor who attended the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and
Film Institute in New York (USA) played the male lead of Rahul’s character. Among
the supporting caste are Prerna Panwar, of the Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi fame,
Mitali Punetha, a theatre artist from Dehradun, Badrish Chhabra, a versatile actor
from Dehradun and Salman Khan, also a theatre and TV artist from Dehradun.
The Director of Photography for the film was Mateusz Golebiewski, a
cinematographer who attended the London Film School, UK. And the original music
for the film was composed by Renan Franzen. The assistant director for the film was
Suyash Bahuguna, who has worked together with Vikram Bhandari on his earlier film as well.
