SVF

Story of how a Canadian town marked Christmas ahead of time for dying boy inspires Bengali film

Srijit Mukerji’s new film with SVF is based on Canadian cancer victim Evan Leversage.

Leading Bengali producer SVF will produce a movie based on the true story of Canadian child cancer victim Evan Leversage. The child was called “The Boy Who Moved Christmas” in the media after the people of his hometown staged a celebration two months before Christmas in 2015 to ensure that the boy could mark the event before his death.

SVF’s film, to be directed by Sriji Mukherji, will transport the story to Kolkata, according to a press release. Titled Uma, the story will revolve around a girl who has been raised in Austria and suffers from a terminal ailment. Her father, Himadri, brings Uma to Kolkata so that she can see Durga Puja before her death, even if it means orchestrating a false festival for the girl.

Mukherji’s film will feature Jisshu Sengupta, Anjan Dutt, Anirban Bhattacharya and Rudranil Ghosh. The film will mark the debut of Sengupta’s daughter, Sara, who will play Uma.

The Autograph director revealed in a statement that he was moved to tears when he first heard Leversage’s story. “I wanted to capture this rare act of humanity on celluloid so the inspirational story reaches a bigger audience cutting across geographical boundaries,” he said. The director reportedly contacted Leversage’s mother, Nicole Wellwood, to inform her of the adaptation.

Leversage’s story was “inspirational and touching”, SVF co-founder and director Mahendra Soni said. “We at SVF, believe in promoting and producing path-breaking films that often sets the trend and I have no doubt in my mind that this film will touch people’s heart everywhere on earth, breaking the language and cultural barriers,” he said.