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International Gujarati Film Festival 2024 Premiere

28 June 2024

In the Playhouse

Cinema

‘Chhello Show’ was India’s official entry to the Oscars 2023 offering a steeped-in-nostalgia story of a young boy in rural Gujarat who’s enraptured by the power of cinema.

PLEASE NOTE: This film is in Gujarati language with English subtitles

Chhello Show (The Last Show) Film

‘Chhello Show’ (The Last Film Show) is a semi-autobiographical tale of the director Pan Nalin, whose journey from a remote Saurashtra village to a creator of images is reflected in the movie. Six village boys from local communities of the region are cast and the film was shot in villages and railway station in Saurashtra. It will remind you instantly of the 1988 Italian classic, ‘Cinema Paradiso’, which featured the relationship between a young boy and a middle-aged projectionist, cemented in a small, dark room from where the movies played. 

This film focuses on hope and innocence. It also highlights ending culture of single-screen cinema and 35mm celluloid films in India.

Nine-year-old Samay (Bhavin Rabari) from Chalala, a village in Saurashtra, Gujarat, India spends an entire summer watching films, from the projection booth of a rundown movie place, by bribing the projectionist - Fazal (Bhavesh Shrimali). He is absolutely mesmerised by films and filmmaking, to the point that he decides to become a filmmaker, unaware of the heartbreaking times that await him.

The cast is mostly made of child actors. Dilip Shankar, Nalin's friend and casting director, assisted Nalin in casting the child actors. The film was shot in March 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India.

Presented by Cloud 9 Creations Events and Entertainment

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