In Srijit Mukherji’s upcoming Bengali film Uma, the titular character (played by Sara Sengupta) is a non-resident Bengali girl living in Austria who has never witnessed Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata but has heard of it from her father Himadri (Jisshu Sengupta).
After Uma, who is suffering from a life-threatening illness, is given a few months to live, Himadri makes it his mission to take his daughter to Kolkata and stage a Durga Puja celebration several months before the festivities actually begin.
Produced by SVF and scheduled for a June 1 release, Uma is based on the true story of the Canadian cancer victim Evan Leversage, popularly known as “The Boy Who Moved Christmas” in the media after his hometown staged a Christmas celebration two months before December in 2015 for him.
The Canadian incident seems to have been inspired by the 2010 television movie November Christmas in which a Rhode Island community comes together to organise Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas before time for a terminally ill eight-year-old girl.
The Uma trailer shows Himadri employing the help of several people, including a filmmaker (Anjan Dutt), to organise Durga Puja. The antagonists include a self-appointed cultural protector (Anirban Bhattacharya) who is miffed with the early staging and a goon played by Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Babul Supriyo.
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