''The Cloud and the Man'' (also known as ''Manikbabur Megh'') is a

Bengali film Bengali cinema may refer to: * Cinema of West Bengal, also called Tollywood * Cinema of Bangladesh The Cinema of Bangladesh, locally known as Bangla cinema, is a diverse and vibrant entity, consisting of films produced across various regions ...

directed by debutant director Abhinandan Banerjee and produced by Buaddhayan and Monalisa Mukherji. Actor

Chandan Sen Chandan Sen is an Indian Bengali language, Bengali-language stage, television and film actor, playwright and director. Career He started acting in Bengali theatre in 1977. He joined ''Natya Anan'' theatre group as a creative director and an ac ...

who portrayed the title role bagged the Best Actor Award at the 19th Pacific Meridian Film Festival,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The film got selection at the

2nd Eikhoigi Imphal International Film Festival The 2nd Eikhoigi Imphal International Film Festival took place from 6 to 9 February, 2025 at Imphal, Manipur. The festival had screened 53 films from India and abroad, spread across four venues in Imphal (Manipur State Film Development Society, C ...

2025 under the ''Eikhoigi Montage'' section.

Cast

as Manik Babu * Debesh Roychowdhury as Kali *

Bratya Basu Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury (born 25 September 1969),Bratya Basu(collected plays), Ananda Publishers, 2004 also known as Bratya Basu, is an Indian actor, stage director, playwright, film director, professor and politician who has been the Ed ...

as Dr. Sadhan * Nimai Ghosh as Madhab * Arun Guhatharkurta * Arya Mallick

Plot

Using monochrome cinematography, The Cloud and the Man is a surreal and philosophical reflection on one recently-bereaved middle aged man and his accidentally complex yet meaningful relationship with a cloud. It is about Manik Babu, who makes friends with a cloud which he feels, keeps following him. In the beginning, he is terrified but with time, he feels a strange bonding with the same cloud which strips him of his utter isolation, his loneliness and his alienation from the world around him. This surreal relation brings out a new Manik in him and propels him into a roller coaster journey of faith, betrayal, belief, and warmth.

Release

The film released in theaters in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

on 12 July 2024.

Awards and Nominations

It had its

world premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film ...

at the

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (BNFF), or PÖFF (Pimedate Ööde filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is one of the largest film festivals in Northern Europe. In 2014, it was ...

where it opened the First Feature competition in Nov 2021. The Indian Premiere was at

IFFI The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n Premiere took place at the

Santa Barbara International Film Festival The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is an eleven-day film festival held in Santa Barbara, California in February annually, since 1986. The festival screens over 200 feature films and shorts from different countries and regions. ...

. The film finds place in the coveted list of FIPRESCI India's Top 10 Films of 2021 and has won the NETPAC award for the Best Asian Film at the 27th

Kolkata International Film Festival The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is an annual film festival held in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1995, it is the third oldest international film festival in India. The festival is organized by the West Bengal Film Centre under the W ...

, 2022. It also bagged the

Chidananda Dasgupta Chidananda Das Gupta () (20 November 1921 – 22 May 2011)—family name sometimes spelled 'Dashgupta' and ' Dasgupta'—was an Indian filmmaker, film critic, a film historian and one of the founders of Calcutta Film Society with Satyajit Ray i ...

Award and a citation for a feature film by a debut director for the 2nd year of the Chidananda Dasgupta Centenary Awards.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cloud and the Man 2021 films 2020s Bengali-language films Bengali-language Indian films Indian black-and-white films Films set in Kolkata Films set in West Bengal Bengali-language drama films