Incidentally, Ganguly did a tele-film called Ushno-taar Jonno (For Warmth/ Warm for Her) that dealt with two women Roopa Ganguly and Churni Ganguly) who fell in love and lived together till one of them, who was bisexual, married and moved away to lead a normal married life. The television audience accepted the film and some even liked it a lot. Ganguly is known for tackling very unusual subjects both for his telefilms and his feature films.

When asked what made him pick up Rituparno Ghosh for one of the lead characters, Ganguly says, “I chose him because he will be able to understand the minute psychological, physical and social nuances of the character the best. He is very sensitive about gays and people with homosexual orientation. I am not typecasting him as an effeminate character. He will have to change the way he talks and walks for the sake of the character.” Ghosh plays a film director. His cameraman within the film is his lover. This character is married and is a bisexual. Churni Ganguly is playing his wife. Raima Sen has agreed to do the role of a researcher in the film. This actor has not been picked yet. “But the character Rituda is to play is neither modelled on Rituda nor inspired by him. One member of my team, a third gender person, died young. When he died, I realised he had died more out of loneliness than of anything else. Rituda was initially hesitant. Later, he said he would do the role. I know he will do it very well.”

What goes on in the mind of a man who speaks, behaves and speaks like a woman, just because his behaviour is against social norms that dictate how a man should behave and anything different from that norm is either made fun of or not tolerated in other ways is what intrigues Ganguly both as a human being and as a filmmaker. How does a man with these traits cope with mainstream society? There is a deep sense of pain that comes through alienation and imposed loneliness. It is not just homosexuality and gay relationships and that is what Chhaya Chhobi intends to unravel.