''Killa'' ( en, The Fort) is a 2014 Indian

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Avinash Arun Avinash Arun is an Indian cinematographer and film director. As a cinematographer he has shot Hindi films such as ''Drishyam'', '' Madaari'', and '' Hichki''. His first directorial Marathi film '' Killa'' was awarded a Crystal Bear by the c ...

. The film revolves around an 11-year-old seventh grade boy struggling to cope with the death of his father and his journey into coming of age. The film was selected for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the

Crystal Bear The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

by the Children's Jury in the Generation KPlus Selection. At the

62nd National Film Awards The 62nd National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presents its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2014 in the Cinema of India, Indian cinema. The awards were announced on 24 M ...

in March 2015, the film won the Best Feature Film in Marathi award. The actor

Parth Bhalerao Parth Bhalerao ( mr, पार्थ भालेराव) (born 30 May 2000) is an Indian actor. He started his acting career with the Marathi film ''Upside Down (Khalti Doka Varti Paay)'' but his first released film in Hindi is the 2014 Bol ...

received

Special Mention Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...

for his role in this film and ''

Bhoothnath Returns ''Bhoothnath Returns'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language supernatural comedy film directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Bhushan Kumar. A sequel to 2008 film ''Bhoothnath'', the film revolves around Bhoothnath (Amitabh Bachchan) who is mocked ...

''. The film was released on 26 June 2015.

Cast

*Archit Devadhar as Chinmay Kale *

as Bandya/Suhas *Gaurish Gawade as Prince/Yuvraj *Atharva Upasni as Omkar *

Amruta Subhash Amruta Subhash is an Indian actress who works in Marathi and Hindi films, television, and theatre. She is a graduate of the National School of Drama, New Delhi. She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the Marathi-langua ...

as Aruna Kale *Savita Ashok Prabhune as Mrs. Nivte *Jui

Plot

An 11-year-old seventh grade Indian boy who has just lost his father is forced to adapt to a new school in a small village in

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

, after his mother is transferred from the city of

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. The story is about how he copes with his transformation and coming of age on a day by day basis. It is also about the pressures that his mother has to deal with, both as a single mother and at work.

Setting and filming locations

The film is set in a village on the

Konkan coast The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, not far from

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in the southwestern part of Maharashtra, India. The district is a part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for ...

, with mentions of

as the city they just moved from, and Satara as the town they are moving to at the end of the film. The fort shown in the film is

Vijaydurg Fort Vijaydurg (sometimes written as Viziadurg), the oldest fort on the Sindhudurg coast, was constructed during the regime of Raja Bhoja II of the Shilahar dynasty (construction period 1193-1205) and restructured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. ...

in Sindhudurg district. The lighthouse is Jaigad Lighthouse, and general filming takes place in villages in this district. The racing track shown for cycling is near Ganpatipule and the other scenes are shot in Guhagar, Vijaydurga, Palshet, and Pune (as shown in list of locations in movie).

Production

The idea for ''Killa'' came to Avinash Arun when he was in the FTII and his father kept having to be transferred from job to job. Arun had a difficult time finding work as a cinematographer. So he decided to pitch his idea to a fellow student Tushar Paranjape, who ended up turning it into a full script. When Indian indie production company JAR Pictures showed desire to fund independent cinema from up-and-coming directors, Avinash Arun told them about his story in March 2013. The company decided to greenlight the project, and it went into production after four months.

Release

The movie was released in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

on 26 June 2015 in 225 screens. It was released in France (as La forteresse) on 7 October 2015 and in Sweden (as Fortet) at the

Göteborg Film Festival Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the larg ...

in January 2015.

Awards

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Marathi Indian drama films Best Marathi Feature Film National Film Award winners 2010s Marathi-language films 2014 drama films