The trailer for Nila Madhab Panda’s Halkaa, starring Tathastu, Ranvir Shorey and Paoli Dam, was released on Monday.
The film is about eight-year-old Pichkoo (Tathastu) who has one dream: to buy himself a new, clean toilet. The slum in which Pichkoo lives with his mother (Dam) and father (Shorey) has a public toilet that stinks. Pichkoo sees the men from the slum relieving themselves in the open next to the railway track and finds it disgusting. But buying a toilet is expensive and anything but easy. “Who’s wrong?” a frustrated Pichkoo asks a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the trailer. “The adults who relieve themselves openly, or me?”
Presented by Shiv Nadar Foundation and Akshay Kumar Parija Films, the movie will be released on September 7. Halkaa had its world premiere at the 21st Montreal International Children’s Film Festival in March, where it won the Grand Prix Award.
Panda’s previous films include I am Kalam (2010) and Kadvi Hawa (2017).