Hazelnut Media, the Singapore-based impact production company, has acquired international rights to “Pinjar,” the Bengali feature directed by Kolkata physician and filmmaker Dr. Rudrajit Roy, and will amplify the film’s release through a real-world initiative backing education for girls in rural West Bengal.
The film is set to open in Indian theaters on July 10.
The deal was marked in Kolkata with a white dove release ceremony, drawing on the film’s central motif of liberation.
Produced by Chasing Dreams Films in association with Bell Jar Films, “Pinjar” – which translates as “The Cage” – centers on five characters whose lives are bound together by a shared inability to break free. Tarak is a bird-catcher who survives by trapping the very flight he cannot attain; his daughter Jhimli comes of age in a world that constrains her before she can find her bearings. Paromita, a widowed teacher, conceals her loneliness behind the cover of duty and routine, while Shefali, a working wife, hides her bruises beneath concealer and silence. Iqbal, a migrant Muslim man, drifts through a city that withholds its welcome. Threading through all their stories is a wild bird – stolen from the forest, peddled in markets, caged in a home – whose restlessness becomes an emblem of every character’s longing to be free.
The ensemble cast includes Mamata Shankar, Joy Sengupta, Sagnik Mukherjee, Mallika Banerjee Roy, Satakshi Nandy, Ishan Mazumder, Tathagata Mukherjee, Swastidipa Rabidas, and Samiul Alam. Manas Bhattacharyya served as director of photography, with music by Ratul Shankar. Music rights have been acquired by Pluto Music.
“From the very beginning, we believed in ‘Pinjar’s’ power to move hearts and spark change,” said Hazelnut Media co-CEOs Olivier A. Dock and Isabella Sreyashii Sen. “Our commitment has been to stand behind the film and its makers, ensuring its story of resilience and freedom reaches audiences worldwide while creating tangible impact on the ground.”
The film has accumulated considerable festival mileage since its world premiere at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival in 2025, also screening at the Asian Film Festival Barcelona, the International Indian Film Festival Toronto, the Indian Film Festival of Sydney, the London Bengali Film Festival, the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal, and Haapifest. At the Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai, Roy received a best director special jury mention.
“‘Pinjar’ was born from the image of a bird in a cage, a metaphor for the boundaries that shape human lives,” said Roy. “My vision was to invite viewers to reflect on the cages we inherit and the quiet human desire to transcend them.”
Hazelnut Media is mapping an international rollout beyond India, with theatrical and festival plans covering South and Southeast Asia and diaspora markets in the U.K., the Middle East, and Singapore, before moving into wider mainstream theatrical release. The strategy draws on co-CEO Sen’s track record as a rare independent woman theatrical distributor working across South and Southeast Asia – she has overseen close to 120 international film releases in the region – alongside co-CEO Dock’s three decades spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The pair previously collaborated on the India–Singapore co-production “Early Days” and the Iran–Singapore production “Tadji,” and co-created Legendia, an international initiative bringing classic cinema to new audiences.
“This film was made with sacrifice and conviction,” said Animesh Ganguly, associate producer at Bell Jar Films. “To see Hazelnut Media champion it globally and connect it to education for girls is deeply affirming of why we made ‘Pinjar’ in the first place.”
Roy, who practices critical care medicine in Kolkata, developed the film through two years of fieldwork with rural villages and slum communities across West Bengal. His previous shorts include the sci-fi “Wavelength,” the drama “Man and Wife,” and the documentary “Chasing My Dream,” which alone earned 22 international awards, with the films collectively earning selections at Oscar-qualifying festivals.
