Uttara (film)

Uttara
Poster
Directed by	Buddhadev Dasgupta
Written by	Buddhadev Dasgupta Samaresh Bose (story)
Produced by	Buddhadev Dasgupta Dulal Roy
Starring	Jaya Seal Tapas Paul Shankar Chakraborty R.I. Asad
Cinematography	Asim Bose
Edited by	Raviranjan Maitra
Music by	Biswadep Dasgupta
Distributed by	Buddhadeb Dagupta Productions
Release date	1 December 2000 (2000-12-01)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	India
Language	Bengali

Uttara (English: The Wrestlers, Bengali: উত্তরা) is a 2000 Bengali language drama film thriller directed by Bengali poet Buddhadev Dasgupta. Based on a short story by Samaresh Bose, it stars Jaya Seal as Uttara, Tapas Paul, Shankar Chakraborty, Raisul Islam Asad as a Christian missionary.

The film contrasts violence, human vices and lawlessness in a seemingly peaceful setting, in a quiet village in Purulia district in Bengal.

Uttara premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 30 August 2000 and was the winner of the festivals' Special Director award.^[1] It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2000 and on 22 May it was shown in the US at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The film was released in France on 13 June 2001 and won the Audience Award at the Nantes festival. It opened the Pusan Film Festival in South Korea. Buddhadeb Dasgupta won the National Film Award for Best Direction in 2000 for this movie.

Due to its homoerotic undertones, Uttara was shown at a number of gay and lesbian film festivals including the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.