Indian film 'Dupki' premieres at Beijing children festival without its cast

Indian comedy film 'Dupki', which explores the dreams of three growing-up children from different backgrounds, premiered at the 6th Beijing International Children's Festival on Saturday, albeit without its director and cast.

The four-day event, which began on October 16, featured 62 films, festival official Gavin Lee said.

However, Dupki was screened at the festival without the presence of its director and actors, as they could not get visas.

"It is a pity that the filmmakers could not get visas," Gavin said.

Director Abhay Punjabi said that despite his film being selected for screening, none of the Dupki team could obtain visas to travel to Beijing.

Punjabi said that his visa application was rejected by the Chinese Embassy in Delhi.

Punjabi said he had submitted the visa application along with the official letter of invitation from the organisers, but his application was "rejected" and no reasons were given for the rejection.

“They did not mention any problem with my application,” he said, adding that no one from the Dupki team could attend the film festival.

Punjabi, who was associated with the Pune-based Film and Television Institute, directed Dupki as his first independent film after working on several projects, including a series on Mahatma Gandhi.

The Hindi-language comedy is slated for release in India, he said.

Dupki follows the chaotic summer adventures of three children from diverse religious and economic backgrounds in Delhi.

One dreams of a swimming pool in his basti (slum), another aspires to study at an Ivy League school before puberty, while a Muslim girl passionate about cricket wants to bowl yorkers wearing a hijab.

The film, produced by industrialist Amit Garg and his wife Ritu Garg from Karnal, was made on a budget of about Rs 2.5 crore. It features actors Sheeba Chadha, Raj Kumar, Zoie Aggarwal Ahmed, Saksham Dhawan, Charu Shankar, Dilip Shankar, Manish, Shardul Bharadwaj, Jamie Alter, Rajan Arora, and Deepak Garg.

The Chinese film market has increasingly attracted Indian filmmakers, with Bollywood hits such as Aamir Khan's 'Three Idiots' making a significant impact and earning substantial profits.