Bhubaneswar: Zwigato , directed by Nandita Das, will be releasing in theatres across India on Friday (March 17).
Starring actor-comedian Kapil Sharma, the movie is set in Bhubaneswar and follows the journey of an ex-factory floor manager and his family as he is forced to work as a food delivery rider, grappling with the app on his phone and the world of ratings and incentives.
Even as he struggles to make ends meet, his wife, a homemaker, begins to explore different work opportunities to support the income. The fears of a new experience are coupled with the joys of a newfound independence. The film captures the lives of invisible ‘ordinary’ people that are hidden in plain sight.
“Zwigato was born out of a conversation with a friend about the rise in unemployment. It was meant to be a short film. But Sameer Nair of Applause Entertainment nudged me to expand it to a full-length feature film. I first thought it would be challenging to humanise the world of algorithms, ratings and incentives, without making it expositional. But as I delved deeper into it, the story became not just about the gig economy but also about the growing disparity in class, caste, religion and gender, which has all become so normalised,” said Nandita.
Besides five known faces, including Kapil Sharma and Shahana Goswami, the film stars local actors from Odisha with varying degree of experience, she said.
Zwigato had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), its Asian premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and its Indian premiere at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).
