Kalpvriksh

Plot

The films story revolves around five children (Sean, Nikita, Guriqbal Singh, Fatima Khanam and Dhanua) in a hill-station. Each child has some problem which he or she is battling. Nikita has a mysterious old friend, a Gypsy woman (Shabana Azmi), who tells her of a magical tale of the Kalpvriksh tree (the wish fulfilling trees) that have existed through thousands of years.

Nikita wins a race at school but her classmates end up humiliating her and calling her a cheat. A dejected Nikita goes in to the forest and starts to narrate her problems to an old twisted tree. Slowly, Nikita sees her problems disappear and she realizes that she has found the Kalpvriksh tree. She shares her discovery with her four friends and they too slowly begin to notice positive changes in their lives. But even as the children spend more and more time with the tree, some rumors of the tree being evil begin to spread in the town which are spread by Pannalal, the contractor / wood-cutter.

In the end, the five children, despite their complex problems and being written off by the world around them manage to actually save their wishing tree (Kalpvriksh) from being cut by vested interests. The film has an underlying message to protect trees and the environment.

Cast

Production

After writing the script, it took Manika Sharma nearly six years to land a producer for the film. Finally, Raajaysh Chetwal agreed to produce the film under his banner Rhombus Films. According to Sharma, landing the actors for the movie was not very difficult and almost all the actors agreed to be part of the project immediately. As she had worked with Amitabh Bachchan before, he agreed to do the voice over after seeing a part of the film.

The film’s trailer was screened at the CMS Vatavaran, Environment and Wildlife Film Festival at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, in 2014