Kaanchli Life in a Slough

Kaanchli: Life in a Slough
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dedipya Joshii[1]
Screenplay by	Dedipya Joshii Kailash Detha
Story by	Vijaydan Detha
Based on	"Kenchuli" by Vijaydan Detha
Produced by	Dedipya Joshii Shobha Devi
Starring	Sanjay Mishra [2][3]
Cinematography	Jogendra Panda
Edited by	Aseem Sinha
Production company	Pisceann Pictures
Distributed by	Carnival Movie Network Carnival Cinemas
Release date	7 February 2020 (2020-02-07)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	India
Languages	Hindi Rajasthani

Kaanchli: Life in a Slough is a 2020 Indian period drama film produced and directed by Dedipya Joshii,^[4] starring Sanjay Mishra, Shikha Malhotra,^[5] Lalit Parimoo and Nareshpal Singh Chauhan. The film has been co-produced by Shobha Devi and presented by Anup Jalota. It is based on a story by Vijaydan Detha, a folk story writer from Rajasthan, India.^[6] His stories have been adapted into many films including Shah Rukh Khan's Paheli. Kaanchli has a message of social welfare attached to its theme. It tells the story of a woman who is strong and self reliant in her struggle to survive in this world.^[7]

The film was released on 7 February 2020 at Carnival Cinemas,^[8] and did well at the Indian box-office for two weeks.

Plot[]

The film is based on a story of folklorist Vijadan Detha.^[9] Kishnu is married to a beautiful woman named Kajri. The Thakur of the village has bad intentions towards Kajri and asks his right-hand man Bhoja to get Kajri for him. However, Kajri is loyal towards her husband and one day attacks Thakur in self-defense. Rather than praising her, Kishnu warns Kajri to not behave like this with Thakur ever again. Heartbroken and stubborn, Kajri tries to get a reaction out of her husband by entering into an extra-marital affair with another man, Bhoja. Bhoja falls in love with Kajri and this gives her the idea to test her husband by using Bhoja just to see her husband's reaction.^[10][11]

Cast[]

• Sanjay Mishra as Bhoja
• Shikha Malhotra as Kajri^[5]
• Lalit Parimoo as Thakur
• Nareshpal Singh Chouhan as Kishnu^[12]

Production[]

Development[]

The official announcement of the film was made in June 2018. Dedipya Joshii had been working on the script since 2008. After reading "Kenchuli" by Vijaydan Detha he decided to make a film on it and started writing the first draft. After getting satisfied by completing the fourth draft he wrote a letter to Detha, attaching the draft. Detha called Joshii and invited him to his house in Borunda, Jodhpur. Joshii stayed for few days with Detha and after knowing him personally, Detha happily gave him the rights of his story '"Kenchuli"' with a compliment saying that after reading the script and talking over the phone with Joshii he had assumed him to be of an older age and experienced in filmmaking, after meeting Joshii he was surprised to see an enthusiastic young man. As soon as Joshii returned to Mumbai, he started working to produce this story into a feature film. After a few days Detha wrote an affectionate and hopeful letter to Joshii saying:^[13]

Dear Dedipya, I Have decided to give you the rights to make this story which is very close to my heart after seeing the transparency within your soul through which you perceive things and execute them in your film making as well as in real life with your immense honesty and I hope that the transparency of your soul could reach to the people when you will present "Kenchuli" on the silver screen, Best wishes.

— Vijaydan Detha to Dedipya Joshii, director of Kaanchli Life in a Slough.

Casting[]

Joshii first cast Shikha Malhotra^[14] as Kajri and then approached the in-demand actor Sanjay Mishra as Bhoja and he said yes to the film, later Joshii finalised Narespal Singh Chouhan as Kishnu and Lalit Parimoo as Thakur in the film.

Filming[]

The principal photography of the film commenced sometime in the November 2018 but during that time Sanjay Mishra had to travel to the Busan International Film Festival for his forth coming film Kaamyaab and the shooting schedule of Kaanchli got postponed for a month. Shooting finally began on 7 December 2018 in the interiors of Rajasthan,^[15] which is extremely cold during that time of the year.^[16] This led to lead actress Shikha Malhotra having to shoot rainy scenes for three continuous nights at the chilling temperature of 2°C from 1–3 January 2019 for the climax of the film.^[17] Shooting schedule got completed on 4 January successfully.

Release[]

Kaanchli had its Indian box-office release on 7 February 2020.^[18][19] It did well in the first week and its distributor Carnival Cinemas decided to continue the film for a second week in cinemas. In the month of December 2020, Kaanchli had its OTT release with Ultra India on 11th December 2020 and racked up more than 10 million in 8 months.

Awards[]

Cinema Aajtak Achievers Award - March 2020:

• Won – Best Debut (Female)^[20][21]

References[]

External links[]

• Kaanchli Life in a Slough at IMDb
• Kaanchli Life in a Slough on Twitter