Vanessa McMahon

Rohit Khaitan's- 'PRAGUE' directed by debutant Ashish Shukla opens for the world premiere at 12th Osian's Cinefan Film Festival (27th July- 5th Aug, 2012) Competiton section.

Having worked on sets for many years as an assistant director and creative producer at a leading film studio in India, full-time producer Rohit Khaitan identifies with all aspects of filmmaking from the creative to the business- from the story’s inception to the scripting, technical, finance, economics of its development and thereafter nurturing the film through pre-production, production, post-production till its bitter end in the marketing and festival circuit phases.

Rohit Khaitan is an enthusiastic story-telling producer who seeks to make ground-breaking films encapsulating a New Indian Cinema that is global in its perspective, capturing today’s contemporary India. While he seeks to entertain and pave new roads for Indian and World cinema, his vision is to make commercial art films that will draw a wide audience and keep the passion of cinema alive.

-written by Vanessa Mc Mahon

Osian's summary on ‘PRAGUE’:

"A city with a history of heritage, myth and superstition. A passionate architect with hang ups and delusions about love and life. A Czech gypsy girl looking for her identity and love. Add to that a mean friend you can't get away with and can't trust. And a left out- left over of someone who isn't really there but doesn't leave you alone. All of them come together, interfering, manipulating, coaxing and torturing each other as their search for peace, freedom and love continues. This film is a psychological thrilling ride which takes you to the darkest corners of your mind, the shut down alleys of your soul and the graveyard of your heart."

‘PRAGUE’ cast:

CHANDAN ROY SANYAL- got his break with Vishal Bhardwaj's KAMINEY (released in German by Rapid Eye) and next in line up is BMW directed by Aditya Bhattacharya (aamir khan's Raakh fame).

ELENA KAZAN - made her debut with Saif Ali Khan's Agent Vinod.

ARFI LAMBA- Arfi is a petrochemical engineer and the passion of cinema brought him to Bombay. His first break with a cameo in Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire opened him to the world of international cinema. Prague is his first major film as an actor and he is looking to shoot the next Swedish-indian film "The pollutant' by Swedish award winning producer 'Helena Danielsson'.

SONJA BINDRA- After Prague would be seen in Heimat Films European-Indian Co-production film titled-QISSA starring Irrfan Khan.

OFFICIAL OSIAN’S PRESS RELEASE:

'World Premiere of Prague at the 12th Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival'

Osian’s Cinematics is proud to announce the world premiere of Prague at the 12th Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival. The Directorial debut of Ashish Shukla, this film will be screened as part of the ‘Indian Competition’ Section.

Director, Ashish R. Shukla started his career by assisting ad guru Prahlad Kakkar. In 2006 he was Creative Head for Anurag Kashyap’s Film Dev D (out of competition-Venice International Film Festival-2009). He has since directed various short films, corporate films and documentaries. His documentary for the National Geographic channel on 26/11, Inside Mumbai Terror Attack won him the Best Director Award at the Indian Telly Awards 2010. Prague is his debut feature film.

Rohit Khaitan, the Producer of Prague also worked with Anurag Kashyap in 2005 first during the filming of No Smoking (Rome International Film Festival 2006), and then barely two years later executive produced his next film Dev D (out of competition Venice International Film Festival 2009). Subsequently, he started his own production house “Glamour Struck Productions” and Prague is his first home production feature which Khaitan conceptualized and co-wrote.

Prague, can intriguingly be described as a psychological thriller that takes you to the darkest corners of your mind, the shut down alleys of your soul and to the graveyard of your heart. This film deals with the inner conflicts of Chandan, a passionate architect who comes to Prague for a project along with his friend Gulshan, a person he idolizes and wants to emulate but also fears. Here he meets a gypsy girl, Elena, a Czech looking for her identity and love who inspires him to make a monument for the unaccounted gypsies who died during WWII. She eventually becomes the love of his life and his inspiration. Chandan however is unable to trust her due to his insecurities and the constant aggravation caused by Gulshan. Caught in a state of mental turmoil the only person Chandan can seek solace from is his friend Arfi, a man who doesn’t exist anymore.

Prague is shot in the beautiful city of Prague and reveals the many colors of the city that has a history seeped in heritage, myth and superstition.

Prague is an Indian-European co-production by Rohit Khaitan’s Glamour Struck Productions in association with Maxwell Entertainment (makers of Madhur Bandarkar’s Jail) and Co-produced by Pix Ray Swiss Entertainment AG, Europe.

OFFICIAL OSIAN’S PRESS RELEASE

Producer Rohit Khaitan