You’ve been into advertising in a big way.
I shifted to advertising in 1995. I handled all the major consumer brands I was given as I switched jobs from one agency to another.I enjoyed my days in advertising as it taught me how to create strategy, creative thinking and market analysis. As ` head, I had the opportunity of handling many national brands.

What made you switch from a successful, high-powered career in advertising to the rather uncertain area of filmmaking?
I believe in the power of the mass medium. As a photojournalist, I had begun to feel that a newspaper job was exciting and adventurous. But it was less creative than other mediums. Creative photography is a strong visual medium. But it has its limitations. We have great photographers like Raghu Rai, Raghubir Singh, Benu Sen and others. Yet, photography is not accepted as a mass medium. Cinema on the other hand, has tremendous potential to cater to the masses. It is true that cinema is capital intensive and that it is difficult to manage the massive funding that it needs. It takes time. I had to wait for 30 years to make a film. It is a painstaking task to get a good and enterprising producer who is willing to take risks.

You seem to have chosen the genre of the psychosocial thriller for your first film 90 Hours.Why not a more mainstream film that would ensure a big audience?
In Nobboi Ghanta (90 Hours) I tried to tell the audience that if you feel depressed then fight it by all means. Will to win is the key to survival. Nobboi Ghanta is a story of two schizophrenics who are playing a game with each other to overcome depression. It is a new genre. Today, all of us are going through a crisis of existence. Everybody is suffering from depression and losing a positive attitude towards life. I strongly believe that the time has come to redefine Bangla cinema. The content, treatment and form of the cinema must be contemporary and unique. It is a mainstream film.

How did you decide on the casting and the technical team since this is your first film and the actors are not top stars of Tollygunge?
The ‘top stars’ if you want to call them that, were not fit for my characters because I needed younger actors. They have done their jobs extremely well and I am happy about having chosen them. All my actors are cerebrally strong. After reading the script they made up their minds about what they would do and what they wouldn’t. I must admit that as a first-time director, I learnt many things from them. Samiran Dutta who passed out of the FTII and worked with me for television and advertising, cinematographed my film putting just the right touches of mystery and intrigue to the dark mood of the film. I took Deb Chowdhury, a very young music director, to write the musical score. The songs and the background track are mind-blowing. I can promise you that.

What was the reason to have an item number by Yana Gupta?
Yana Gupta is a value addition. Her presence has put in that extra gloss to my film. My producer Swapan Ghosh understood the need for the extra gloss and agreed to stretch the budget a little.

What are your comments on current trends in Bengali cinema?
The time has come to change the entire mainstream film format. The Y generation proudly announces that it does not see Bengali films at all. Is this good for the Bengali film industry? If this goes on, Bollywood will slowly eat Bengali cinema entirely and nothing will be left. We, lovers of Bengali cinema, should find out a way to overcome this. Frankly, I don’t believe in parallel cinema. It has no market value. To make cinema you need to organize huge amounts of money. If you get it then you have a commitment to return it. At least there should be an honest effort. So cinema is more of a business proposition than creativity. How creative you can be within those financial parameters is a challenge you must be willing to take.