February 10, 2026 04:18 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
‘Won’t allow any impediment in SIR’: Supreme Court pulls up Mamata govt over delay in sharing officers’ details | India-US trade deal: ‘Negotiations always two-way’, says Amul MD amid farmers’ concerns | Khamenei breaks 37-year-old ritual for first time amid escalating Iran-US tensions | India must push for energy independence amid global uncertainty: Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal | Kanpur horror: Lamborghini driven by businessman’s son rams vehicles, injures six | ‘Namaste Trump beat Howdy Modi’: Congress slams PM Over India-US trade deal | Historic India-US trade pact: Tariffs cut, $500B market opportunity unlocked! | Big call from RBI: Repo rate stays at 5.25%, neutral stance continues | RG Kar scam twist: Court issues non-bailable warrant against whistle-blower Akhtar Ali | Court snub for Vijay: Madras HC rejects plea in ₹1.5 crore tax case

Festival-winner film 'Umformung' screened for sex-workers, monks

| | Jul 18, 2016, at 05:03 pm
Kolkata, July 18 (IBNS): Hindi feature film Umformung – The Transformation, which was the official selection of 4th Washington DC South Asian Film Festival, was screened before a diverse audience of monks and sex workers at state-run theatre Nandan last week.

"I am happy to screen Umformung before the sexworkers as special guests. They are products of the society and should not be ostracised," director Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar says after the screening.

"Also the screening is graced by monks as my film talks about the journey of a monk from the idyllic monastery to the dark underbelly of a city. Like the diverse backgrounds the film has a diverse audience," he says.

The monk journeys from the monastery in picturesque mountains to a city brothel and thus the film has texts and sub-texts reflecting the complexities of life, the different worlds which converge at one point. This is the crux of Umformung – The Transformation, Sarkar
says.

"Here two parallel stories are juxtaposed in one world Umformung – The Transformation is about a Buddhist monk in quest of the ultimate truth," he said.

 Winner of Best Background Score – at 5th Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival, and Merit for International Film – World Film Award, Jakarta, Umformung  looks at Buddhism as a way of life and how detachment is the ultimate truth.

"A prostitute in that sense is no different from any of us in the so called respectable society, and by her straightforwardness and honest approach to life, is actually an inspiration to a monk to find Nirvana!” Nothing else could explain that better than this evening's screening," the director says. 

Produced by Rita Jhawar the film is slated for an all India release on Aug 26.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.