You made a powerful telefilm Asamapto, with Soumitra Chatterjee and Indrani Haldar. You have repeated this casting in Angshumaner Chhobi. Why?
While working with Soumitra Chatterjee in Asamapto (Unfinished), I nurtured a desire to cast him in my first feature film, whenever I would have made it. Asamapto was about an old man suffering from Alzheimers and his brief bonding with an upmarket call- girl during the few days of the Durga Pooja. He loses his way one evening and a call-girl gives him shelter. Indrani Haldar essayed the role of the call girl, while Soumitra Chatterjee plays the old man. I was amazed at the range of emotions this great actor could get across almost spontaneously. I had no second actor in mind, except him when I wrote the screenplay. I have worked with Indrani for many telefilms. She is one of the most talented actresses we have today. The rest of the cast was chosen as per the needs of the script.
What is this film all about?
It deals with the relentless efforts of Angshuman, a young film director who comes back from Italy after eight years, having studied cinema there, to make his first film. He puts up a determined fight against all obstacles to complete his film. As he is struggling with his goal, the story passes through many mutations - emotional drama, humour and the detection of crime. Along the way, other issues come up. Among these are the eternal tussle faced by every creative person between his mind and his emotions, the psyche of being in and out of the limelight and the inevitable pangs of conscience and humanism faced by celebrities.
What role does Soumitra Chatterjee play in the film?
As this is a film-within-a-film, Soumitra Chatterjee has two roles. In the main story, he is a former matinee idol who has become a complete recluse and has cut himself away from the mainstream as much as from cinema. In the film that Angshuman is making, this actor, Pradyut Mukherjee is persuaded to enact the role of a 72-year-old painter suffering from dementia. The painter has an illiterate ayah who looks after him. Indrani Haldar plays the ayah in the film-within-the-film. In the main story, she is Madhura, an actress who won the National Award for Best Actress in her first film. But when Angshuman approaches her, after a stint in commercial films of little merit but good money, she has been reduced to a jatra artiste that has made her a social recluse. Angshuman had visualised these two actors for the two main roles for his first film and he is unwilling to compromise.
Your film has elements of a crime thriller.
Yes, but it is not a crime thriller per se. The detection of crime also plays an important role in bringing out the psychological interactions in a celebrity’s life. These are strikingly different from those of the common man. So the usual concept of crime and punishment does not hold true here. The film opens with the alleged suicide of Madhura’s long estranged husband. Here is where the police come in. The suicide becomes the talk of the town for its mysterious nature and is handed over to the CID, Crime Branch, for investigation. The person assigned to the case is Sourjya Roy, SP, CID, whose no-nonsense analytical skills suggest that it was not a suicide but homicide. Ananya Chatterjee plays the role of this different police officer. There is another character, Neel, played by Tota Roychoudhury.
What about the music?
I have used five tracks of songs in the background to convey distinctive moods of the drama. Scored by Rocket Mondol and written by Suchandra Chowdhury, they are sung by Rupam Islam, Prateek Chowdhury, Subhomita Banerjee, Anwesha Dutta Gupta and Bhoomi. There are two dance sequences choreographe by Sukalyan Bhattacharya. The dance numbers are an integral part of the narrative. Sujoy Dutta Ray is editing the film, Joy Chandra has done the art direction and Sandeep Sen is the cameraman.
Is the film autobiographical?
Just like an author leaves a part of himself behind in every story he writes, so does a filmmaker. But (laughs) I leave that to my audience to judge.
