"Pinjar” is a poignant drama directed by Rudrajit Roy and produced by Chasing Dreams Films. The film has been making its mark across international film festivals, with its world premiere at the 16th Chicago South Asian Film Festival, followed by the Australian premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Sydney, the Canadian premiere at the International Indian Film Festival of Toronto, and the European premiere at the Asian Film Festival, Barcelona.
In India, Pinjar will have its Indian premiere at the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) in the Competition Section of the Bengali Panorama.
The film features an ensemble cast including Mamata Shankar, Joy Sengupta, Satakshi Nandy, Sagnik Mukherjee, Samiul Alam, Mallika Banerjee, Ishan Mazumder, Tathagata Mukherjee, and Swastidipa Rabidas.
Pinjar: Where the Caged Bird Becomes a Mirror to Society
Dr. Rudrajit Roy’s debut Bengali feature Pinjar unfolds like a lament—on freedom, survival, and the invisible cages that surround us. Set against the rustic landscapes and crowded alleys of Bengal, the film draws a haunting parallel between the illegal trapping of wild birds and the subtle imprisonments within human lives.
Through the intertwined stories of Jhimli, Paromita, Shefali, Tarak, and Iqbal, Pinjar explores how patriarchy, poverty, illiteracy, religion, and domestic violence cage people in silence. A poached bird—torn from the forest and sold in the market—becomes the film’s living metaphor, reflecting a society that normalizes both cruelty and submission.
Developed after two years of immersive fieldwork with rural and tribal communities, Pinjar captures the unsettling tradition of bird poaching with realism and poetic restraint. Every bird sequence was filmed ethically under expert supervision, each creature later released into the wild—a symbolic act of freedom.
With a screenplay by Rahul Roye and cinematography by Manas Bhattacharyya, the film features Mamata Shankar, Ratul Shankar, and Mallika Banerjee Roy—artists who joined without fee, drawn by the film’s conviction.
Selected at several international film festivals, Pinjar stands as a bold, compassionate mirror to a society still struggling to unclip its wings.
Director,Rudrajit Roy said that "Pinjar is my personal protest against the cages we build—around birds, and around people. Through five characters navigating emotional, social, and spiritual confinement, I explore how we all give in to preexistent algorithms. This film is both a cry against cruelty and a quiet plea for compassion."
Rudrajit Roy is a Kolkata-based filmmaker, critical care specialist, and co-founder of Chasing Dreams Films, a production house he established with his mother, Rina Roy. A frontline COVID warrior, his dual expertise in medicine and cinema informs a uniquely humanist and urgent storytelling voice.
Roy’s sci-fi short Wavelength—the first Bengali short film to use heavy VFX—won multiple international awards and is celebrated for pushing the boundaries of genre cinema in the region. His motivational short Chasing My Dream earned 22 global awards, further cementing his place in the indie film circuit.
As producer of Man and Wife, a socially resonant drama, Roy backed a bold narrative that went on to earn selections at numerous Oscar-qualifying festivals.
His films blend innovation, emotion, and cultural specificity—marking him as a powerful emerging voice in South Asian independent cinema.