Deswa (2011)

Deswa (English: Country) is an Indian Bhojpuri language film. The first film to be produced by actress Neetu Chandra, and story/screenplay/direction by Nitin Chandra. The film is a social drama - crime thriller Bhojpuri genre. The film introduces new actors Ajay Kumar, Deepak Singh and Kranti Prakash Jha in lead roles along with critically acclaimed actor Pankaj Jha and very known Ashish Vidyarthi.

In 2010 Neetu Chandra had expressed a hope that it would move beyond the limited release that is common for Bhojpuri films and instead be seen throughout India and perhaps also abroad. She intends that the film would employ multilingual dialogue - Bhojpuri, English, Telugu and Hindi - as well as being dubbed into Tamil and Marathi in order to extend its appeal. She believ that "With Deswa, we would be redefining the very face of Bhojpuri cinema."
Deswa is the first bhojpuri film in 50 years to get selected at Indian Panorama section of International Film Festival of India, which was sufficient enough to support the vision of Neetu Chandra. Deswa was also invited by IIM - A and had selection at South Asian Film Festival, Habitat World Film Festival, Montage Film Festival, International Film Festival of Fiji, Bhojpuri Film Festival and latest was International Film Festival of South Asia (IFFSA), Toronto, Canada and it is still being invited at several National and International Film Festivals.


The film was screened in Patna, Bihar on 20th November 2011. This was attended by the cast and by state luminaries such as Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of the state. It received favourable reviews from critics at film festivals, such as the International Film Festival of India in Goa. It was also screened in South Asian Film Festival of India, Montage Film Festival, Habitat World Film Festival and International Film Festival of Fiji. The Hindi-language variant of this film was released in October 2015 under the name Once Upon A Time In Bihar.

Synopsis

The film deals with contemporary issues affecting youths. It begins in 2005 with a student protest during the corrupt Bihari administration of Laloo Prasad Yadav, intended to free the characters played by Ajay Kumar and Deepak Singh. The film goes in a flashback of these two prisoners.

Actors