Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon now in Ahmedabad, Bangalore

Anamika Haksar’s directorial debut Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon (2022), which has travelled the festival circuit, has expanded in its second week, thanks to an encouraging response from audiences.

The film was released in theatres on 10 June and the shows in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow and Jaipur in the first week were sold out.

Three shows have now been added in Mumbai at Inox Metro (2:35pm), PVR Juhu (10:40pm), and PVR Icon Infinity Mall (1:00pm).

Since yesterday, 17 June, Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon is also being shown in two new cities, Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Bangalore in Karnataka. It will be screened in Ahmedabad at PVR Arved (3:00pm) and in Bangalore at PVR Vegacity (7:25pm).

Producer and director Haksar was overjoyed with the response and said, “It's an unprecedented moment for our film [as] Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon plays to full houses for a whole week. A breakthrough for indie cinema.”

Shiladitya Bora, founder of Platoon One Films and the film’s distributor, added, “We are thrilled and amazed by the response to the theatrical release. With back-to-back packed houses throughout the week in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, etc, it reconfirms our belief that there is space for all kinds of cinema, and if all the stakeholders in the value chain — creators, distributors, exhibitors — come hand in hand and try to get the attention of the core audience/niche the film is made for, it is possible to make even a small independent film work.”

Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon review: A surreal collection of fantasy, gritty realism, and bitter truth

Originally scheduled to be released in 2020, Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon had its world premiere at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2018 and was the only Indian film selected for the exclusive New Frontier section at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. Its theatrical release was delayed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Haksar’s film, produced by Gutterati Productions, stars veteran theatre artistes Ravindra Sahu, Raghuvir Yadav, Lokesh Jain and K Gopalan and follows four characters: a pickpocket, a vendor of sweet and savoury snacks, a labourer-activist and a conductor of 'heritage walks’.

Patru, the pickpocket, decides to take people on alternative walks, showing them the underbelly of the city, but this causes trouble with local merchants and the police. He decides to conduct one last ‘Dream Walk’. When Lali, the labourer-activist, joins the fray giving a speech urging workers to unite, he lands them all in jail. The professional actors blended with 350 street people to create what seems like a surreal tale of truth.