Agra director Kanu Behl: It is a very personal story of a young boy and sexual repression | Exclusive

The film Agra is one of the films screened at the Directors’ Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival 2023.

Kanu Behl, filmmaker, Agra

Filmmaker Kanu Behl goes to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival this year again with his new film titled Agra, which had its world premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight section. The last time he was present at the festival was in 2014 with his directorial debut, Titli.

Talking about the film, Kanu told OTTplay, "Agra is a film about sexuality, sexual repression, and the physical space that we inhabit and how both affect each other. So it is about how our sexual life affects the physical spaces that we live in, and how the physical space we are living in starts affecting our sexual life and the most personal moments. It is also a very personal story of a young boy who is struggling not only with his own sexuality but also seeing the sexual repression of others from the close counter that he knows, be it his father, mother, or mistress, living in the neighbourhood. So in his own way, he is trying to figure things out, though he does not have the vocabulary to talk about it, but he senses a certain repression in the house that he is living in."

Since we had the chat just before the screening, the director was asked if he felt nervous before showing the film to the global audience that was coming to the film festival.

The filmmaker said, "Well, I did whatever I could have done with the story, and now that the film is done, it is in the hands of the audience how they are going to receive the story. "We are looking forward to everything that is coming our way from the audience."

Eventually, the film team received a standing ovation after the screening at the festival.

The film features Priyanka Bose, Mohit Agarwal, Vibha Chhibber, Aanchal Goswami, and Ruhani Sharma, among others.

The Cannes Film Festival 2023 started on May 16 and will have its closing ceremony on May 27.

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