Nila Madhab Panda's Halkaa heads to Montreal for world premiere

National Award-winning filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda's Halkaa will premiere worldwide at 21st Festival International du Film Pour Enfants de Montreal Film festival (FIFEM).

It will compete with six international children's films in the official section and will have its world premiere on Thursday, read a statement.

The fest, underway in Montreal, Canada, will go on till 11 March.

Halkaa is about aspiration and dreams of an eight-year-old boy living in a slum in Delhi. It stars child actor Tathastu as Pichku, and Ranvir Shorey and Paoli Dam as Pichku's parents.

"It's a new treat in children cinema space in India. I have tried to express words like fantasy, dreams, aspiration in a child's term. Yet it's a complicated adult's world and how he imagined a life in that space," said Panda, known for Kadvi Hawa (2017) and I am Kalam (2011).

Halkaa is Panda's second film with children to be selected at FIFEM, after I am Kalam (2011). He won the Prix Du Public for the film in 2010.

"It's a nostalgia to have the world premiere at FIFEM Montreal... Such a great feeling to have Halkaa to be part of the competition," he said.

The film is a musical treat with sounds by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. It is produced by Shiva Nadar Foundation in association with Akshay Kumar Parija and Panda.