Riddhi Sen makes his directorial debut with the animation short Thikana

National award-winning actor Riddhi Sen makes his directorial debut with Thikana, a short animation film about hopes and dreams. The film has been co-directed by Rajarshi Nag and is available to watch on YouTube.

Presented by Windows Production House, the animated short is also the first creation of Oddventures, a production team formed by a group of childhood friends consisting of Sen, Rwitobroto Mukherjee, Surangana Bandopadhyay and Nag.

The 2D animation film, which has no dialogues and relies primarily on its meaningful background score, focuses on a boy, who prefers to day dream instead of playing video games with his siblings. He effortlessly travels to places of historical significance around the world, riding on clouds and the traditional hand-pulled rikshaws of Kolkata. His imagination knows no bounds as he meets friends underwater and extends a helping hand to a boy, sobbing at a graveyard.

While the boy runs wild in this parallel imaginary world, the ticking clock in his room is a reminder of the man-made civilization, where destruction and pandemics are a part of reality along with the gifts of nature. But at the end, dreams help us to survive, taking the form of new stories, new destinations (Thikana) and endless possibilities.

The music of Thikana has been composed by Sohini Gupta, who has collaborated with Ronn, based in Russia, for the background score. The credit song in the end has been composed by Anindya Chattopadhyay and sung by Bandopadhyay, whose rendition evokes nostalgia. The lyrics by Sen manage to beautifully capture the film's central theme.

Listen to the song 'Thikanar Khonje' below: