Bengali movie 'Ahana' in official section of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

'Ahana' (The Light Within), the debut Bengali feature movie by short film director Promita Bhowmik, has been officially selected in the prestigious 'Indian Film Festival of Melbourne' 2025. After receiving the news from the festival directorate, Bhowmik said on Wednesday that he is honoured. "I am very happy to know that my film will now reach the Australian audience. Hope 'Ahana' will be loved by the viewers in a globally recognised platform like IFFM," she said. The IFFM 2025 will showcase a variety of Indian cinema, including feature films, documentaries and short films from August 14-24. The film is slated to be screened on August 24 in the IFFM, the festival directorate posted on its website. 'Ahana' has a woman protagonist who challenges patriarchy. Ahana had also been selected in the competition section of the 'Best Film Category' of Washington DC South Asian Film Festival 2025, Indo German Film Week 2025 (Competition Section), Kolkata International Film Festival 2024 (Competition Section - Bengali Panorama), Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2025 (Competition Section), Indian Film Festival of Ireland 2025,and others. It got the 'Honourable Jury Mention Award' in the 'Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival' 2025.

Apart from versatile actor Sudipta Chakraborty as Ahana, the film has names like Joy Sengupta in the cast. Ace director Goutam Ghosh's 'Parikrama' (in English/Hindi/Italian), Suman Ghosh's Bengali film 'Puratawn" (The Ancient), Razid Season's 'Eljah' are among the films having Bengal connection to be screened in the festival. The film will be released in theatres on September 5.