India’s 2 Band Radio All Set To Make Noise With A World Premiere At Uk Asian Film Festival

Jyothi Venkatesh

Imagine this! You are excitedly pedalling away your bicycle when the municipal guy, hiding at the next blind corner, pounces on you to check the license. You answer the door and there is the local post office guy, wanting to check your license. The license we are referring to is a radio license that you needed to use the radio at one time not aeons ago.

At a time, when the radio license books of the 70’s are today collectibles, producer Rahat Kazmi brings to life, the radio of the license era. Getting the license book endorsed from the post office was itself as difficult as getting an RC book stamped for an automobile deal today.

“It was not easy to recreate the time when our post offices were the centre of our Universe, and demonstrated the supreme authority of Babudom. Vividh Bharati and AIR reigned. Our story is set in a time in a Himalayan village, where people had never seen a radio and how the journey of the first radio in the village becomes the reason for chaos and the resultant comic situations.”

For the uninitiated, Rahat Kazmi and his group have garnered respect and found a niche among the international audience with their films like Identity Card, Mantostaan and Lihaaf.

Now, Rahat Kazmi Films, Tariq Khan Production and Zeba Sajid Films come together again to produce a unique satirical feature film, 2 Band Radio. Set in the 1970’s, the film is written by Rahat Kazmi and Kunwar Shakti Singh and directed by debutante Saki Shah.

Pradhuman Singh of Tere Bin Laden fame, shall be seen in the main lead in this film with NSD's senior actress Neelu Dogra, Miss India Tourism-Supermodel Sneha Jagiasi as the female lead and UK based actor Jitendra Rai, while Rahat Kazmi, Ritu Rajput, Zahid Qureshi, Tariq Khan, Hussain Khan and Pankaj Kanta will be seen in supporting roles.

"The film is relevant in today's times because it is about greed and how it leads to frustration and depression,” concludes debutant director Saki Shah.

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