Chorki acquired rights to Indian filmmaker Q's film 'Zewel'

The Bangladeshi OTT platform Chorki has obtained rights for Indian filmmaker Q's film "Zewel", announced during Singapore's Asia TV Forum and Market.

Chorki has also joined the project as a co-producer, collaborating with Rita Meher, curator of Tasveer Festival and CEO of Luminary Pictures (Seattle), reports Variety. 

Produced by India's Oddjoint, the project is currently in post-production.

The film, shot in both India and Bangladesh, narrates the tale of a young TikToker's progression from obscurity to an antagonist. Zewel aspires to become a TikTok hero and currently boasts 15,000 followers.

According to Variety, He is a firestarter, a matchstick master who never misses a target. Living at the edge of an industrial wasteland in Bangladesh, Zewel and his brother Zibon, both daily-wage labourers, were planning to move to Qatar to join the booming influencer factories. But dreams come at a cost. As Zibon gets busted selling drugs, all doors to a meagre livelihood are closed for Zewel. Ruined, he crosses the border into India. But a bigger tragedy lies ahead of him.

"Zewel is a film about the underbelly of Bengal, on both sides of the border. A fresh wave of youth has been embracing a new identity," Q says in his director's statement.

He added, "Zewel is soft, humane and vulnerable. I wanted to explore the genuine shift in aesthetics that is inundating this part of the world, the K-pop mania." 

"'Zewel' starts a new phase of my cinematic process, one where filtered phone images and emojis control narratives. The film reflects on the current scope of emotional and socio-cultural challenges that the subcontinent youth have to face. The burden that the phone camera lays on their souls," Q told Variety.

Q is known for his unique approach to storytelling with credits including "Gandu" and "Garbage." He is the founder and CEO of the indie film production company, Oddjoint Art Pvt. Ltd.

Chorki is known for championing independent cinema, with recent credits including Bangladeshi auteur Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's "Something Like an Autobiography" and "Last Defenders of Monogamy." Producers on "Zewel" are Chorki's Redoan Rony, Oddjoint's Hina Saiyada and Q and Rita Meher. Footprint is also on board as a co-producer.