PANAJI
The feature-length film 'Portuguese Man O' War' or 'Paklo Portuges' (Konkani title), script of which has been written by Ridham Janve and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, has been officially selected for the 2026 edition of Cinemart at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
The film is about a mysterious conquistador from the 15th century who returns to a fictitious Goan island inhabited by only two islanders. The film adds to the ongoing discourse on decolonisation and takes a modern relook at the phenomenon of colonisation. The film is to be produced by Bombay Berlin Film Production and The Film Café.
Ridham Janve is an Indian filmmaker whose work moves between spirituality, history, myth, and the absurd. His self-produced debut, 'The Gold-Laden Sheep and the Sacred Mountain', premiered in competition at Rotterdam and won the Silver Gateway at Mumbai, the FIPRESCI Prize at Hong Kong, and the Young Cinema Award at APSA.
His period project, 'The Sacrifice', was selected for La Fabrique Cinéma at Cannes, and his second feature, 'Hunter’s Moon', a spiritual western set in the Dhauladhar mountains, is in post-production. His practice embraces the physicality of filmmaking, and beyond cinema he extends his work into painting and sculpture.
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar is a former journalist who has written for Outlook magazine, the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), Tehelka, The Associated Press, among other leading media platforms. He has co-authored 'An Extraordinary Life: A Biography of Manohar Parrikar', published by Penguin eBury Press and 'Murder in the City: Deadly Crimes That Rocked a Nation', published by Rupa Publications.
