Shomshuklla

Early life

Shomshuklla was born in Kolkata on 9 November 1965 to Bengali parents, her father who was a student of Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan and her mother who was a lecturer. Seven years later, she joined Dakshinee, an acclaimed music teaching institution to learn the music form 'Rabindra Sangeet'. In 1985, she met Bhaskar Das on a mini bus in Kolkata and tied the knot with him six months later. The couple had their only child, Uditvanu Das in 1989. It was in 1990 that she relocated from Kolkata to Ahmedabad and joined Krishnakant Parekh, a disciple of Pandit Jasraj to study and learn music. In 1995 she left Ahmedabad for Mumbai to embark on her creative career. In Mumbai she started learning classical music from the renowned Dr. Prabha Atre from the year 1995 onwards.

Music

Her first foray into music started with ‘Dhin Tara’ where she performed vocals in what happened to be her first Indi Pop album. This album was produced by Times Music and released in 1998. Her second album ‘Raahien’ released in 2001 and a music video for it was shot in Corsica. A couple of years later in 2003, Shomshuklla released her first album of remixes titled ‘Glimpse’. Cafe Kalighat (2004) and Kolkata Jam (2006), her fourth and fifth albums, composed of Rabindra Sangeet fusion into the world music genre. Electrik was her second last album which released in 2005 and her last album as a singer ‘Sonic Frames’ released in 2008. Shomshuklla released 2 Bengali modern song music albums Mukto Paakhi (2001) and Chuye Jete Moon (2003), as well.

Poetry

It was in the year 2006 where she penned her first words as a poet with Rupa Publications and released her first book ‘I Have Seen That Face Before’. A year later, she wrote her second book of poetry, ‘Close Every Door’ with Rupa Publications and was launched by Award winning lyricist and ad man Prasoon Joshi at Crossword in Mumbai. Shomshuklla's third book of poems ‘Seconds Before Sunrise’ was published in 2009. The honours were done by noted ad-man Piyush Pandey. Shomshuklla’s fifth book of poems, Do Not Stand So Close To Me in 2009, was launched by Pritish Nandy. During the launch she read some insightful poems about being a mother and her bond with her son. ‘Easy’, the 7th book of poetry by Shomshuklla, was launched in December 2013 at the famous Kitab Khana by Brinda Miller, the famous canvas artist and lady behind the landmark KalaGhoda Arts Festival in Mumbai. The lucid words are accompanied alongside photographs by ace photographer and award winning Cinematographer, Ritam Banerjee.

Shomshuklla has also written two Bengali books of poetry, 'Chulta Elomelo' (2009) in Kolkata and 'Ekti Manusher Khoje' (2012) launched by Sahitya Academy Award winner, Bani Basu and actor Nigel Akkara at the Kolkata Book Fair.

Sandcastle

Sandcastle was an independent film directed by Shomshuklla which released in India on March 14, 2014. Conceptualized back in the year 2006, it is the story of Sheila, a home-maker, an aspiring writer and a loving mother. From an outsider’s perspective, it would seem like she has the perfect life. Husband being an advertising maverick, she is part of the elite upper middle class of Indian society. The concept of Sandcastle reflects one’s belief to be able to build a perfect life. The focus of the film is on women in urban India. The face of women in India has been changing over the ages into a form much more independent and in control of their individual destinies. Through Sandcastle, Shomshuklla aimed to show the two colliding worlds of acceptance and breaking out of the modern Indian woman.

Before its release in India, Sandcastle was nominated in various categories at numerous international film festivals including the Tenerife International Film Festival, London International Film Festival and LA Femme International Feature. Ritam Banerjee’s work on Sandcastle won it the best cinematography award at the Tenerife Film Festival.

In the later part of 2014 the film competed as one of the entries for The Academy Awards, commonly known as The Oscars, from India for the 2015 Academy Awards selection.

Chhutii Aar Picnic (Changed from original name : Picnic)

Chhutii Aar Picnic (English Translation: A holiday and a picnic) is an upcoming romantic drama directed by Shomshuklla starring Shahana Chatterjee, Uditvanu Das & Sohini Mukherjee Roy. The film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s popular romantic novella, Shesher Kobita, one of his most popular novellas. Chhutii Aar Picnic has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Feature Film categories at the Madrid International Film Festival held in July 2014.

Hopscotch

Hopscotch is a psychological thriller directed by Shomshuklla. Starring Sohini Mukherjee Roy, Hopscotch tells the story of a young woman who returns home one day to find that a childhood friend, she once lost, is back to play games with her. Hopscotch has received multiple nominations at the recently concluded Madrid International Film Festival, Tenerife International Film Festival and won numerous awards.

Tik Tok

Starring Mia Maelzer, Uditvanu Das and Sohini Mukherjee Roy, Tik Tok the film, is a surreal romance between a restaurateur and a journalist, directed by Shomshuklla. Tik Tok has won an award at the Nice International Film Festival for Best Original Screenplay.

Theatre

She owns a theater company by the name of ‘Kali Theatre’ which was established in 2006. The company staged their first play ‘I Have Gone Marking’ to house-full halls at Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai. During this time, she also was the first artist to reinvent Rabindra Sangeet for global audiences with Kolkata Jam. In 2008, she performed her play ‘Sometimes’ in Kolkata to packed houses and just a year later she staged her play ‘Tonight I can write’ with her company Kali Theatre. This is one of the only theatre companies to have performed at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The play, ‘We Draupadi’s and Sitas’ premiered in 2011 on such a global stage. She continued to stage more plays with her troop such as Queen Mandodari, Roti Kapra Makan and Radio Epic amongst others. Her latest play, ‘Oh Gandhari, Oh Kunti!’ showcased at the prestigious Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2013 held in Mumbai, India.

Personal life

Shomshuklla currently resides in Mumbai with her husband Bhaskar Das and her son Uditvanu Das. She’s also an animal lover and has a dog named Spice. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing and doing interior designing for her house. She was also a columnist for the Asian Age and Kolkata Mirror online.