Hazelnut Media, the Singapore-based influence manufacturing firm, has acquired worldwide rights to “Pinjar,” the Bengali function directed by Kolkata doctor and filmmaker Dr. Rudrajit Roy, and can amplify the movie’s launch by a real-world initiative backing schooling for women in rural West Bengal.
The movie is ready to open in Indian theaters on July 10.
The deal was marked in Kolkata with a white dove launch ceremony, drawing on the movie’s central motif of liberation.
Produced by Chasing Desires Movies in affiliation with Bell Jar Movies, “Pinjar” – which interprets as “The Cage” – facilities on 5 characters whose lives are certain collectively by a shared incapability to interrupt free. Tarak is a bird-catcher who survives by trapping the very flight he can not attain; his daughter Jhimli comes of age in a world that constrains her earlier than she will discover her bearings. Paromita, a widowed instructor, conceals her loneliness behind the quilt of obligation and routine, whereas Shefali, a working spouse, hides her bruises beneath concealer and silence. Iqbal, a migrant Muslim man, drifts by a metropolis that withholds its welcome. Threading by all their tales is a wild chook – stolen from the forest, peddled in markets, caged in a house – whose restlessness turns into an emblem of each character’s longing to be free.
The ensemble solid consists of Mamata Shankar, Pleasure Sengupta, Sagnik Mukherjee, Mallika Banerjee Roy, Satakshi Nandy, Ishan Mazumder, Tathagata Mukherjee, Swastidipa Rabidas, and Samiul Alam. Manas Bhattacharyya served as director of pictures, with music by Ratul Shankar. Music rights have been acquired by Pluto Music.
“From the very beginning, we believed in ‘Pinjar’s’ power to move hearts and spark change,” mentioned Hazelnut Media co-CEOs Olivier A. Dock and Isabella Sreyashii Sen. “Our commitment has been to stand behind the film and its makers, ensuring its story of resilience and freedom reaches audiences worldwide while creating tangible impact on the ground.”
The movie has accrued appreciable competition mileage since its world premiere on the Chicago South Asian Movie Pageant in 2025, additionally screening on the Asian Movie Pageant Barcelona, the Worldwide Indian Movie Pageant Toronto, the Indian Movie Pageant of Sydney, the London Bengali Movie Pageant, the South Asian Movie Pageant of Montreal, and Haapifest. On the Third Eye Asian Movie Pageant in Mumbai, Roy obtained a greatest director particular jury point out.
“‘Pinjar’ was born from the image of a bird in a cage, a metaphor for the boundaries that shape human lives,” mentioned Roy. “My vision was to invite viewers to reflect on the cages we inherit and the quiet human desire to transcend them.”
Hazelnut Media is mapping a global rollout past India, with theatrical and competition plans protecting South and Southeast Asia and diaspora markets within the U.Okay., the Center East, and Singapore, earlier than transferring into wider mainstream theatrical launch. The technique attracts on co-CEO Sen’s monitor report as a uncommon impartial girl theatrical distributor working throughout South and Southeast Asia – she has overseen near 120 worldwide movie releases within the area – alongside co-CEO Dock’s three a long time spanning Europe, the Center East, Africa, and Latin America. The pair beforehand collaborated on the India–Singapore co-production “Early Days” and the Iran–Singapore manufacturing “Tadji,” and co-created Legendia, a global initiative bringing traditional cinema to new audiences.
“This film was made with sacrifice and conviction,” mentioned Animesh Ganguly, affiliate producer at Bell Jar Movies. “To see Hazelnut Media champion it globally and connect it to education for girls is deeply affirming of why we made ‘Pinjar’ in the first place.”
Roy, who practices essential care medication in Kolkata, developed the movie by two years of fieldwork with rural villages and slum communities throughout West Bengal. His earlier shorts embrace the sci-fi “Wavelength,” the drama “Man and Wife,” and the documentary “Chasing My Dream,” which alone earned 22 worldwide awards, with the movies collectively incomes picks at Oscar-qualifying festivals.
