Deepti Naval, Kalki Koechlin's 'Goldfish' sets world premiere at Busan International Film Fest

MUMBAI: Actors Deepti Naval and Kalki Koechlin's drama movie 'Goldfish' will have its world premiere at the 27th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

Directed by Pushan Kripalani, the film will be screened under the 'A Window on Asian Cinema' section of the festival, which will run from October 5 to 14.

Featuring Naval and Koechlin as a mother and daughter duo, 'Goldfish' deals with the themes of memory and identity.

"Anamika (Koechlin), the child of a mixed marriage, returns home to her estranged mother Sadhana (Naval) because she is suffering from the onset of dementia.

"Ana returns to a neighbourhood she barely remembers, to a woman who sometimes doesn't remember her," according to the official plotline.

Naval said when the makers offered her the movie, she felt an instant connection with the story.

"When I first heard the story of the film in three lines, I immediately connected with the film. Something inside me said this is for me, this is what I have been waiting for. Maybe because I saw my mother go through Alzheimer's and dementia," Naval said. 

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"I am really excited about the selection of the film at BIFF and I am sure the audiences will take the story of Sadhana and Anamika with them in their hearts," the 70-year-old actor said.

Koechlin said she is both excited and humbled about the premiere of  'Goldfish' at the BIFF.

"The film's cast included Indians from all over the world and all these actors had their own accents, which is something we've never seen in a film the diversity of Indian accents and therefore of the people of India," she said.

"So, I am both excited and humbled that 'Goldfish' will premiere at Busan, a festival that has highlighted so many iconic films and hosted amazing talent through the last quarter of a century," she added.

Kripalani said the movie explores the idea of identity through its two women protagonists.

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"One is unsure of who she is because she lives between two cultures, neither completely her own and the other, stuck in a land not her own, now because of her disease, with her identity ephemeral. It seeks to address the ideas of duty, love and painful history," he added.

Set in London, 'Goldfish' is a UK production.

It is produced by Amit Saxena's Splendid Films (USA) and executive produced by Pooja Chauhan.

"Goldfish" also features actors Rajit Kapur, Gordon Warnecke and Bharti Patel.