DOGS LIE - Starring Samrat Chakrabarti, Frank Boyd and Ewa Da Cruz, Wins Best Film (USA) and Feature Film Audience Award at 2011 ITN Distribution Film and New Media Festival

Dogs Lie, Richard Atkinson’s latest indie feature starring Samrat Chakrabarti (Elle Magazine Top 100 Talents to watch), Frank Boyd and Ewa Da Cruz, scored two awards, for “Best Film” (USA) and the “Feature Film Audience Award,” at the 2011 ITN Distribution Film and New Media Festival in New York.

“It was a great thrill for all involved to receive recognition,” said director Richard Atkinson. “The movie will be released in 2012 and will highlight a cast of rapidly rising acting talent……I’m sure we will be seeing a lot more of Samrat Chakrabarti, Frank Boyd and Ewa Da Cruz… they have all been involved in multiple movie and TV projects since we shot Dogs Lie….they are exceptional …TNA World Wrestling Champion, Ken Anderson, has a feature role as Yuri a Russian mobster. It all makes for great entertainment with unexpected twists and turns.”

Dogs Lie won “Honorable Mention” at the Los Angeles Movie Awards 2011 and was an “Official Selection” at The Big Apple Film Festival (BAFF) in NY, the La Femme International Film Festival in LA, and the Filmi SE Asian Film Festival in Toronto, where it was the “showcase feature.”

Samrat Chakrabarti plays Iqbal Khani, a likeable, conscientious clinician and romantic opportunist, alongside Frank Boyd as Josh Logan, a clinician who is a compulsive jokester with a competitive streak. The two are thrown together with eight patients at a luxury NY sleep clinic for a night of monitoring and observation. As the night progresses dark secrets are revealed. The beautiful Lucia ( Ewa Da Cruz), a patient, finds herself the center of attention as her life seemingly spins out of control. Nothing is quite as it seems. romance, blackmail and murder ensue as humor and irreverence give way to devious self interest.

Shiv on the drums, Samrat Chakrabarti, Bakwas Bumbug co-creator, co-director and composer in rehearsal at DANY Studios in New York on 6/16/11. © 2011 Lia Chang

I caught up with the award-winning actor and internationally acclaimed musician at The Wild Project in New York in June, after the opening night performance of Desipina and Co.’s 70 minute workshop production of Bakwas Bumbug, an electrifying musical reinvention of A Christmas Carol, told thru the looking glass of NYC Immigrants and Hyphenated America, for which Chakrabarti composed the score, co-directed and co-wrote the book and lyrics with Sanjiv Jhaveri.

Opening night for the cast and creative team of Bakwas Bumbug at The Wild Project in the East Village on June 22, 2011. (L-R) front row- Rehana Lew Mirza, Rohi Mirza Pandya, Lipica Shah, J. Kaitlin Becker, Roopa Mahadevan; back row Shiv, Nick Choksi, Kiarri D. Andrews, Sanjiv Jhaveri, Ryan Kim, Christian Carter, Andrew Guilarte and Samrat Chakrabarti. Photo by Lia Chang

The rehearsal photographs of Bakwas Bumbug were featured in my display of photographs at the Library of Congress in July entitled, “In Rehearsal,” and are now part of the Lia Chang Theater Photography Portfolio in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection of the Asian Division at the Library of Congress. 

Samrat Chakrabarti Photo by Lia Chang

Chakrabarti is best known for his film roles in The Waiting City (as Krishna), Kissing Cousins (as Amir) and The Wedding Weekend (as Will). On TV he has appeared in 30 Rock (as Ramesh), In Treatment (as Arun Sanyal) opposite Irrfan Khan (HBO), Damages (as Manu Singh), Outsourced (HBO), The Horrible Terrible Misadventures of David Atkins, Bored to Death, and recently shot an episode of A Gifted Man.

Film projects in the can include A.J. Carter’s Extinction, Dagen Merrill’s Murder in the Dark, Salim Khassa’sDesperate Endeavors and Michael Walker’s Price Check, starring Indie Queen Parker Posey, which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival 2012 in January. Chakrabarti recently worked on Blemished Light with Victor Banerjee; Kamal Hassan’s Viswaroopam, with Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Rahul Bose, Amy Jackson, Shekar Kapur and Jaideep Ahlawat; and can soon be seen as Wee Willie Winkie in Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children, based on the novel by Salman Rushdie.

Chakrabarti was dubbed the “independent film king of New York” when three short films he was starring in – Rehana Mirza’s Zameer & Preeti: A Love Story, Shiva Shankar Bajpai’s Raju and Soham Mehta’s Fatakra – screened at the New York Indian Film Festival in May. He also composed the score for Fatakra, which has garnered accolades at Film Festivals across the country including a Student Academy Award, the Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions award from the 2011 LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL and the Audience Award for Best Short at the 2011 Sarasota Film Festival.

Samrat Chakrabarti Photo by Lia Chang

Chakrabarti’s film credits include Italo Spinelli’s Gangor, Shilpa Sunthankar’s Seeta’s Demon, Joseph Mathew’sBombay Summer, Kabir Khan’sNew York, Shailja Gupta’s Walkaway, Bruce Leddy’s Sing Now, Sai Selvarajan’s Joy Lies, and Manish Acharya’s Loins of Punjab of Presents alongside Shabana Azmi.

He has also had roles in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me, Leonardo Ricagni’s Indocumentados, Jonathan Betzler’s Homecoming, Manan Katahora’s Arya, Ajay Naidu’sAshes and Joseph Castelo’sThe War Within which was nominated for an Indie Spirit Award. In addition, he has appeared in Gareeb Nawaz’s Taxi, Robert Harte’s Finding Graceland, Anjaan Dutt’s The Bong Connection with Victor Banerjee, Sarba Das’s Karma Calling, Randall Krongard’s Override, Manan Katahora’s Arya and When Kiran Met Karen, Joseph Matthews’ Days of Love and Loss with Tanishtha Chatterjee, Raj Basu’s Piyalir Password and and Suman Ghosh’s Dwando.

Chakrabarti is the recipient of a U.S. CARA for Best Original Pop/Rock Song for his composition “What’s It all About” and the 2010 TMG Award for Global Achievers in the category of Film, TV and Drama, for his outstanding body of work as an actor. Samrat Chakrabarti Website

Vanguard Cinema LA, an indie film distributor, will distribute the film in the USA. Dogs Lie is a Top Movie llc production. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website http://www.dogslie.com

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Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.