‘Phoring’ is a Bengali drama directed by filmmaker Indranil Roychowdhury that was released in 2013. It stars some of the best actors of the Bengali film industry. Child actor Akash Adhikari plays the lead and Sohini Sarkar, Ritwick Chakroborty, Sourav Basak, Sankar Debnath play other important characters.
The film got many awards in different categories and was screened in some prestigious film festivals like Shanghai International Film Festival, Chicago South Asian Film Festival.
‘Phoring’, the Bengali word for a dragonfly, is the name of a boy who has hit puberty and is not able to adjust to his surroundings. He lives in the suburbs of a very small township in North Bengal that is suffering from an economic crisis due to shutting down of a factory.
Phoring hears voices in his head and calls it ‘God’ and talks very frankly to those voices. One day, a new teacher, Doel comes to the school and all the students start liking her. Doel calls Phoring to her home to give her tuitions and Phoring takes that opportunity to meet Doel everyday as he has a huge crush on her. Phoring captures a video of Doel dancing and a mischievous friend makes it go viral. There is a lot of controversy afterwards and Phoring is said to keep distance from Doel after that. Doel too avoids the boy and a strange man comes to live with her at this very time. Some strange and unexpected events occur after that, Phoring finds some firearms in the deserted factory and Doel disappears with the strange man.
You should definitely watch the movie if you want to know what puberty is like in small towns of Bengal. The movie is made beautifully and it will give you a relaxing feel as well as a feeling of nostalgia. The music is great and the dialogues are wonderful. ‘Phoring’ is available to watch on Hoichoi.