Mithila Palkar to play double role in the Alka Raghuram-directed In The Ring

Director Alka Raghuram made a documentary Burqa Boxers (2016) on the burqa-boxing community of Kidderpore, Kolkata. She is now all set to make a feature film based on the same community. The movie, In The Ring, was announced at the Festival de Cannes.

The film is being produced by Sreyashii Sengupta, founder and managing director of Darpan Global, and Souvikk Dasgupta, founder and partner at Oriizon Global. Sengupta was at Cannes to seek collaborators for the project in sales, distribution and co-production.

In The Ring has a mix of Indian and Bangladeshi artistes. The film stars Mithila Palkar in a double role for the first time along with Jaaved Jaaferi and Bangladeshi actor Siam Ahmed. Razia Shabman, one of the first woman boxers from Kolkata, will be playing the role of a boxing coach.

A statement from the makers said, “[The film is] a psychological thriller about Shama, a seventeen-year-old boxer who exchanges places with her double to fight in the national championship when she is framed in her aunt’s murder.”

On why she backed the film, Sengupta said, “Alka’s story touched me from the word go. Growing up in Kolkata and always searching for stories from my roots whilst in Singapore, I was unaware of this community of spirited women till I watched her documentary. The intensity and power of such a story made into a feature gives it a voice like no other. I am proud to adorn the producer’s hat for a project with such incredible cross-border cast and a brave and talented director like Alka.”

Dasgupta added, “Oriizon Global is a story-telling company. [We tell] stories which have never been told. The stories of people across borders of country, time and place. Connecting the core of feelings and emotions, no matter where one is. In The Ring is the story of one such community in Kolkata that will find its ground across the world, wherever its watched.”

Palkar said she was impressed with the subject and was eager to work with Alka and the team. “I can’t wait for you to meet the girl who fought for her dreams despite the many challenges that life presented her with and I’m elated to collaborate with the incredible Alka Raghuram on this," she said. "I’m so excited that this film is being announced at the Cannes festival, a platform where the best of world cinema is discovered, showcased and celebrated.”

Alka started writing the script for In The Ring while she was making her documentery Burqa Boxers. “While the immersion into their world allowed me  to tell the documentary story in the style of 'realism, it also made me want to explore the interiority of the characters via a more stylized narrative and style," the filmmaker said. "In that sense, this particular version of the story has been over a decade in the making, waiting for the right family of collaborators to bring it to life. I am thrilled to have found a home in them.”

Jaaved Jaaferi said that after he read the first draft of the script, he was drawn into the unusual story and the gripping narrative. “Following discussions with the creative team and [the] producers, I felt I would really enjoy being a part of this film,” he said.

In The Ring will go on the floors in December in India.