Sudipta Chakrabarty and Koneenica Banerjee in Porichoy, short film explores women’s self-identity

The identity of a woman has been defined by society over the years through set archetypes and attributes. She is expected to be self-effacing, sacrificing, and giving as a mother, a wife, or a daughter. In other words, a woman is expected to conform to the socially prescribed roles and meet everyone else’s demands selflessly even if her identity takes a backseat or gets subsumed in the process.

Porichoy (The Identity) is set in this context and tries to explore a woman’s ‘self-identity’ in India today, and what it could mean for a woman of today. The talented director said in her statement that the 15-minute short film sends out the important message that ‘identity’ does not depend on one’s profession or patriarchy or social stigma. Promita went on to define identity as ‘the combination of self-respect, self-dependence (economically and socially) and self-confidence.’

The premise of the short film has Sudiptaa and Koneenica playing college batchmates Anuradha, a homemaker, and Shreya, who now earns her livelihood as a sex worker, meeting each other after long. Through their reunion of sorts, the two friends catch up on their lives and try to explore and understand what self-identity could mean for them as individuals with their distinct way of life. The short film also touches upon the existential crisis that the two are going through.

‘Porichoy’ has already won critical acclaim in its festival rounds. It won the Honorable Mention Award at the Paris Film Festival this year and Best Narrative Short Film at Istanbul Film Awards. Promita won the Best Women Director award at Madras Independent Film Festival. The short film has also been showcased at quite a few prestigious film festivals that include Berlin Flash Film Festival, Miami Independent Film Festival, Toronto International Women Festival, and New York Flash Film Festival, among others.

Promita has directed a short documentary film before. She is presently working on a feature film whose script has been finalised. She went on to add that the film, which is in the pre-production stage now, will be ‘women-centric’ in its subject, ‘dealing with some deep-rooted social issues of patriarchy.’