It won the Golden Butterfly and Diploma of Honor for Best Screenplay at the 33rd International Film Festival for Children and Youth at Isfahan, Iran, even before it was commercially released in India on May 20, 2022. Co-producer and visual post production editor of Mrugtrushna (Mirage), Ahmedabad based Burzin Unwalla told Parsiana on May 23 that his Gujarati language film was ready to be released in 2020. "We held back the release on account of the pandemic,” he stated.
About his first film as a producer, 43-year-old Unwalla stated that it is not a commercial "masala” film. Mrugtrushna is about the conflicts and desires of a quartet of children — Tejas, Tara, Gagan and Sameer — who reside in a small village on the banks of the Narmada. "Hopeful of a solution to all their problems, they create an imaginary world full of butterflies, where sadness, pain, anger, discrimination and hatred do not exist… This world of theirs is on the other side of the river, the land that they can barely see, but distinctly imagine,” states the publicity material for the film. "The thought of crossing the river is forbidden since the villagers believe it to be a dreadful land belonging to the demon of death… How their imagination gets wings forms the rest of the story,” Unwalla told us. The feature film was selected for viewing at film festivals in Moscow, UK, and New Jersey, Chicago, Boston, Toronto and Alberta in North America.
Clockwise from above: Burzin Unwalla;
award for Mrugtrushna; Vivaan, Zaar and Pearl Unwalla
Co-producer Mrinal Kapadia told Parsiana that "having begun my journey with this film about six years ago and fast-forwarding to now, the world has completely changed, with the effects of (American ex president Donald) Trump, Covid, and an Internet revolution that we’re still to reckon with having upended it… In times such as these, we now, and children more than ever, need such inspiring stories of wonder and imagination to uplift us.”
Unwalla says, "Between July and December 2019 I personally sat down and did the special effects.” While it will be released on OTT (over the top) streaming platforms later, that the special effects will be best appreciated on a cinema screen. The Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat (APP) had arranged a special screening of the movie for humdins on May 21. "About 100 community members attended… very gratifying,” Unwalla told us.
In the entertainment industry for 25 years after completing courses in multimedia, Unwalla has in the past directed and edited documentaries and feature films in multiple languages. "His work as director, producer, editor, visual effects supervisor, animator, and motion graphics designer has been nominated and awarded at the national and international stage,” states cinema compendium Internet Movie Database (IMDb). His movies include White Rainbow, Mara Pappa Superhero, Delhi Heights, Tamil blockbusters Chandramukhi and Aasal, and Karnataka State Award winner Cyanide. Unwalla has served as visiting faculty at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and other institutes.
Burzin, an ordained priest, and his wife Pearl are parents to Ervad Vivaan (16) and Zaar (eight). F. J.