Kolkata artists, guitarist-composer Soumyarya Mallick and animation filmmaker Deepayan Purkait just released “Moonflower” – the first chapter of their animated musical series “Something To Hold On To”. The film is available to stream on YouTube.
As Soumyarya (who is also the producer of the series) calls it, ‘Something To Hold On To’ is not just music accompanied by visuals; it is a transformative experience—a fusion of storytelling, visual art, and music which come together to craft a narrative that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.”
Initially as the artists reveal, Soumyarya had approached filmmaker Deepayan for creating animation music videos for his songs for the EP “Something To Hold On To”. However, numerous discussions and brainstorming sessions later, the idea for just some standalone animated visuals took the shape of an animated musical series, like a bigger novel with all the chapters adding up to make a story.
Sinusoidal Music had the opportunity to get in touch with the artists who gave birth to Moonflower!
Moonflower: An emotional roller coaster exploring contrasts
Moonflower explores a world of contrasts. The guitar work as well as the visuals are an exploration of dualities: joy against sorrow, hope against despair. Following a song writing structure that is somewhat traditional as well as modern, the interplay of these emotions in the music is beautifully complimented by Deepayan’s balance of warmth and coldness in the overall visual theme.
From what the video looks like, the story follows a Bengali couple Arya and Maya though their lives in the mystical Moonflower village. However, the future had different plans with Maya who has to shift to a different country. What we are left with is the hint of a possible breakup. “Moonflower, the opening chapter, is a poignant journey through the moments cherished by two lovers Arya and Maya in the mystical Moonflower village. However, with the passage of time as their relationship takes a different course, the memories that were once beautiful wrap Arya and Maya into a melancholic gloom,” reads the YouTube caption of “Moonflower”. Watch the full video here:
The project also involves Tapasi Bhattacharya as the sound engineer and Devleena Chakraborty as a background artist and painter who has designed the world of Moonflower along with Deepayan. Musicians who have collaborated for the music include Sumit Dey on bass and Arjun Kumar Roy on Cajon and Cymbal.
Also read: Nominees for 2025 Toto Awards for Indie Music Announced!
Global Recognition
Moonflower has captured the world’s imagination. The series won at the Dhaka International Cultural Film Festival 2024, Druk International Film Festival (Bhutan) 2024, Tagore International Film Festival 2024 and Parai Musical International Awards 2024. It has also received a Monthly Nomination at the prestigious Rome Prisma Film Awards 2024 and earned a Special Mention at the UK Animation and Music Video Festival 2025. Animators Guild India Fest 2024 and Himachal Short Film Festival 2024, among others, have already selected the film for an official screening.
Sinusoidal Music in Conversation with Soumyarya Mallick and Deepayan Purkait
1. Tell us about the “discussions and brainstorming sessions” that you mentioned in the press release. How did you come up with the idea of a series? Have you two worked before or was there some instant connection?
Soumyarya: We have not worked before. This is our first work together. I had composed songs which have the element of drama to them, music that’s of theatrical nature. I wanted to present my music through a visual adaptation where a story will be told that is based on the mood and movements that are there in the music. Taking various logistical things in consideration I chose to go for an animation based visual project. I shared this idea with the project’s sound engineer Tapasi Bhattacharya and the fact that I’m on the lookout for a filmmaker who can execute the vision. Then she connected me to Deepayan Purkait. I communicated this very thing to him and sent him the song Moonflower. And after that in a week’s time the filmmaking work on Moonflower started. This was in November 2023.
Hence we met on professional grounds and at heart we are artists who want to make art with honesty and dedication. So that’s how we came together and the making of Moonflower-the film started.
Deepayan: I really liked something Soumyarya said, that he was looking for someone like me who is a storyteller, and wished for the works to be sent to film festivals as well and I really appreciated this, and perhaps it is from there only from our first meeting, I started realizing the potential of this work, and how it can be much more than just a music video series, and since he approached me looking to animate an entire music album I asked him about the idea of creating an animated series on the music album with a continued storyline, and each music composition will be accompanied by a short animated film which will tell a part of the story and will also be a story in itself but with an open ending. The musical pieces as I heard them, were so cinematic. I think you might say there was some kind of instant connection or at least the start of something like that.
We decided to call each song, or each chapter of the story, ‘a musical’, and the series, ‘An Animated Musical Series’. More than anything we wish for people to be connected to this series and to the tale of these two lovers. ‘Moonflower’ is the first musical, and there is so much more to come. Almost overwhelming us, ‘Moonflower’, our pilot project, gained a lot of love, and was appreciated in so many film festivals in and out of India, and this made us all so happy and motivated and inspired, it is really great when your hard work is appreciated and that is true for both of us and for Tapasi and Devleena and everyone else. We thank all the festivals and all our well wishers, thank you so much.
The next animated musical, ‘In Her Time’, is currently in production and will be arriving in mid-2025.
Slowly all the musicals will come together, to weave a whole, and shall remain as, ‘Something To Hold on To’.
Soumyarya on Critical Reception and the Idea of “Good Art For the Masses”
2. How has the reception been so far for Moonflower? We hear quite a buzz about it within the indie movies and animation community. Tell us a little about how you feel about your journey, the collaborative creative process and the taste of victory!
Soumyarya: Well, Moonflower has had a successful run in quite a few film festivals, getting awards and accolades. And that’s a very good feeling. But I think the real victory was achieved and felt the moment we took out the final edit of the film and watched it. In that moment, we just knew that this is a work of art, a labour of love, and what we had set out for, has been achieved.
Moonflower has only been the start of the journey. Both for the project as well as the first collaboration between me and Deepayan. Also the first time that I’m working with Tapasi on sound. So it’s a first on quite a few fronts. Hence the making of Moonflower has seen the foundational blocks being laid on visuals as well as sound . Foundations like – How will the project look like? How will the project sound like ?
Being the first collaborative venture as a team of artists, it was important that we try to understand each others point of view. There are agreements and disagreements, but all of these are to reach a ground that is in best interest of the work. Personally, this was the first time in my life that I got to experience my music being accompanied by a visual sphere, so being the producer and watching Deepayan’s creative process has in many ways been a learning curve for me.
3. Would you like to elaborate on the idea of “Good art for the masses”? Was this something always on your mind?
Soumyarya: Good art for the masses. Something created with honesty, with artistry and yet is accessible and relatable for all people, not just artists. One does not need to have an acquired taste for a particular genre, in order to have the capacity to resonate with Moonflower/ Something To Hold On To. Its something that transcends the various barriers and boundaries that exist in society and connects with the people, tells stories of the people, but is created with emotional and artistic depth, rooted in honesty of expression.
This mindset was not always there from the very beginning of my journey in the field of music. It happened gradually over the years and the very fact that all of us, artists, non-artists, all of us, we go through more or less the same joys and sorrows of life, brought about a sense of connection and influenced my thought process behind producing work that is for the masses.
Before the creation of the film got underway, I had conveyed this to Deepayan as well and the way he has taken it forward in the film section meets all aspects of the artistic vision. The story of the film Moonflower is on a theme that is very commonly explored in art. Love. Separation. Something that a lot of us have been through. Relatable. Accessible. But how is the same story being told? The manner of storytelling. There lies the artistry. There lies the depth.
The creators reveal the reason they call it “Moonflower”
4. Why is it called ‘Moonflower’? I’m curious because white resembles peace and I found the first installment in the series quite peaceful. Is there any other reason? I can see a reference to the moon in the video. If you could elucidate? Also how did you ideate the characters – was it from personal life or are they imaginary?
Soumyarya: The word Moonflower comes from a personal experience. I had a girlfriend with whom I was travelling through the villages. The sight of her face with the full moon at the side of it in the sky created a beautiful image in my mind – a flower that blooms in the light of the moon. Moonflower.
Couple of years passed and I was taking a solitary walk in the evening one day. That was also a moon day. The beautiful memory came back and it inspired me to get productive with some of the musical ideas and movements I had recorded – one in 2011, one in 2015 and one in 2018. Now, these ideas, although conceived years apart, had a cohesive feeling between them and these resonated deeply with me, to the point that I could say that this music is me. So with the inspiration that the memory provided, I went back home, worked on these previously composed musical movements, composed couple of new movements, worked on their integration, and what came about was a song . I named this song Moonflower in honour of the inspiration the memory provided.
Before the filmmaking got underway, I was explaining to Deepayan this very thing. Why is the song called Moonflower? After I had told him, it provided him with a spark of inspiration and from there on he has created the story that is told in the film from his imagination.
Soumyarya Speak : Music Production and Studio BTS
5. Give us a sneak peek into the recording and production process. How was your experience with ze.sound.witch?
Soumyarya: It’s been an excellent experience working with ze sound witch Tapasi Bhattacharya. She has been with the project right from the moment I conceived the idea of making an album consisting of my own compositions. For me, as a composer, it was important to have a sound engineer who would understand the emotions that make the music. Because while communicating my vision , I talk more in terms of the emotion and drama that make the music, rather than technicalities of sound. And this project being a labour of love, it was important for me to have a sound engineer who would give me a comfortable space where I can express my vision, a space where there can be an honest dialogue between equals coming together to achieve a common goal. The goal being to produce a sound that reflects the thematic mood of the song. Tapasi is just that person and I get to learn a lot of things from her while we work on the sound production.
Moonflower was the first song we worked on together and as I previously mentioned, the foundational blocks of the project’s sound were put in place. As an audio engineer Tapasi is open to certain ideas away from the norms . Her exploration and execution of these have shaped the project’s sound.
For the drum recording of the second song of the series In Her Time, Tapasi had planned and directed the entire recording process involving experimental mic-ing techniques that was taking place in Kolkata, from Maharashtra where she is currently based. And on recording day everything worked out incredibly smooth. I was absolutely amazed.
The collaborating musicians in Moonflower- Sumit Dey on bass guitar and Arjun Kumar Roy on cajon and cymbal, have been my band mates at different times and in different bands. Hence there was already a sense of understanding between us that enabled us to communicate freely. Both of them have put in the effort in understanding the place from where the music is composed and have contributed their music accordingly: Sumit’s basslines provided soulful grounding to the song while Arjun’s work on cajon amplified the song’s mood with intent and precision. Together, they created a rhythmic framework that reflected the composition’s emotional depth.
In my music, dynamics plays a huge role. The interplay between softness and loudness that is brought on by the amount of pressure which is applied which playing. So making sure that comes out well has been an important part of the music production stage of the entire “Something To Hold On To” project.
Musical influences
6. Last question for Soumyarya, let’s talk about your style of music. Tell us about your influences. Were having visual references to your tunes always in your mind while writing songs?
Soumyarya: I’m thankful to my guitar teacher Tajdar Junaid. Through the guitar lessons, the beauty of music was revealed to me. He is always an inspiration and has made profound impact on my life.
My musical journey had started with the soul of blues music influencing me heavily in my formative years as a guitarist. I have then been inspired by the experimental and explorative approach of Jimmy Page. The album titled Journey by Ali Alkbar Khan – devotion in every note. Nocturnes by Fredrick Chopin moved me with the poignant, beautiful movements and the warmth of emotions. The arrangement that’s there in Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons left me in awe. The song Prelude to Lohengrin by Richard Wagner has left an indelible mark. Richard Wagner’s unwavering commitment and life long determination to present his music in the manner they deserved to be presented, has been an inspiration and motivation in my journey of producing Something To Hold On To.
Whether there is Visual reference while composing music- It depends on the situation. The music you hear in Something To Hold On To are all explorations of emotions. If i had to score for a film then the visual reference might play a key role while composing. But for this project, it’s an expression of different emotions, mood and feelings. This is where Something To Hold On To becomes such an interesting project. It adapts interplay of emotions that’s there in the music into a story that’s told visually.
Read : Techno World – At the intersection of art and music.
In Conversation with The Director: Deepayan
1. The music video for Moonflower has a blue overtone all over. Is this to resemble the sadness in happy? Did you work on it consciously or how did it come across?
Making an animated musical on Moonflower has been all about harmony, where the music and the animation will harmonize each other beautifully. The colors are symbolic, there is a cold blue all around and this blue symbolizes a coldness in the world of Maya and Arya, yet the coldness of the blue is cut by a warm yellow which symbolizes a warmth that represents love and togetherness, and the warm yellow is introduced to the color palette of the film through, the light of the fireflies, the stove fire in the tea stall, or perhaps some street light somewhere, and this duality of cold and warmth has given shape to the color palette of Moonflower. Moonflower is also, much like poetry, and the idea was not to achieve photorealism when creating this work, but rather to stylize and to create a world from imagination. I feel, the Indian audience have much to take from Moonflower as the fictional village of Moonflower is also set in some Indian village located in some hilly region and the hometown of both the leading characters is Kolkata, the city of joy, and love, and music, and it is a different Kolkata, a stylized work of art created from imagination, a world which was painted and created by Devleena Chakraborty and myself…yet, it only gives the audience a glimpse of the city, as this city shall be recreated time and again in almost every musical of the series, ‘Something To Hold On To’.
2. Tell me about the technical aspects a little. Ideating the storyboards and bringing them to life. How do you view hand-drawn animation as a means of storytelling?
The storyboard, I feel, is the base and foundation of an animated film, and way before the film is made we can see how it will turn out to be sequentially in frames or panels, much like in a graphic novel but one made for a film, to put it simply. I personally storyboard all my animated works, after designing the characters and creating their model sheets. Once the storyboard is all together, we start working on the animations and creating the background artworks based on the storyboard panels.
Hand-drawn animation I feel, is limitless, and timeless, and I seek to create great stylizations, not merely imitate but to transform and transcend reality yet always taking from it.
To me, it is not just about the story, but also about how the story is told. Take for example, love and heartbreak, separation, it is something which has happened to most people, or perhaps most people at some point of time in their life, perhaps someone is going through one right at this moment….yet we decided to dwell on this very simple idea, something most people can relate to, and create a story around it, believing in the power of storytelling, as it is how we show it that makes it different. Moonflower dwells on simple basic experiences of life, yet ones that can be so complicated and perhaps even change a bit of who we are or who we were, but it is also about carrying on, and there lies the melancholic gloom, the maladies, it is poetic as well, and there lies the beauty of Moonflower, the levels, one can interpret and relate to it in their very own way, as we are all different beings and so are our hearts and minds.
3. How has working on a music video series like Moonflower been different from your other projects? Tell us what you liked and hated the most!
The most interesting thing is that it is not just a music video series, and what we like to call it is an animated musical series. The idea of animating a music album slowly transformed and culminated into creating a series of short stories on the music, the stories will continue with every song, and every musical will tell a bit more of the story of Maya and Arya, a story that is not merely about love and separation, it is also about alienation, it is about being lost and in finding your self, it is about family and togetherness, yet it is also about death and pain. It is a roller-coaster of emotions, and after Moonflower the story continues with the next musical ‘In Her Time’, with Maya, in a distant cold country, her diaspora and alienation, and it is also about her childhood in some distant past way down memory lane, her present and her past.