31st Oct, Kolkata: ‘Aatish’, a soul stirring story of finding hope in life, directed by Paroma Neotia, was released online this Diwali. The 20 year old filmmaker is a student of Film Studies at New York University, and ‘Aatish’ is her debut short film. She is an old-school romantic, at heart, which has inspired her to write stories and create films that are Bollywood but with her own creative twist. ‘Aatish’ is her debut short film as a writer and director.

The full film can be viewed at:

The song from the film, ‘Uljha Raha’, has also been released. This song has been sung by Aneek Dhar.

The Song, ‘Uljha Raha’, can be viewed at:

Paroma Neotia has written the story, screenplay and  dialogues of the film. The soulful music has been composed by Indraadip Dasgupta, while the lyrics have been penned down by Paroma herself. ‘Aatish’ was Paroma’s dream project, who wanted her debut film to have a socially relevant subject.

In a world where the depression is stigmatized, with those who suffer refusing to talk about it, ‘Aatish’ is a refreshing take on one man’s journey from the depth of suffering to rising above it to find himself. The film revolves around the life of a 22 year old boy called Aatish who is short tempered, irritable and suffers from depression. A constant occurrence of setbacks and heartbreaks, while trying to unsuccessfully pick himself up, have made him completely lose hope in life. At one point, right when he is about to give up, hope finds a way back into his life on the occasion of Diwali.
An aspiring storyteller, Paroma dreams big and wants to weave more tales that are humane in their approach. Talking about her debut short film she says, “The word ‘ Aatish’ means ‘fire’ in English.  I have always wondered about the mental struggles that all of us go through in life while dealing with difficult situations, how a brave person tend to lose hope and give up on life itself. With ‘Aatish’ I want to tell those people to live their life to the fullest and make the most of it. To find themselves and have complete faith in their abilities. As they said in Shawshank Redemption ‘ Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies’.”

Starring Vickram Chatterjee, Arunima Ghosh, Saachi Bhasin, ‘Aatish’ promises to ignite the lost hope in every soul.