Palit’s Intimate Camera

His career as a documentary filmmaker in a country like India,where millions of battles are fought everyday for survival,has taught him one valuable lesson. “I can’t mix activism with filmmaking. It becomes too personal and frustrating,” says Palit. But that doesn’t mean Palit believes in dissociating himself from the subject of his film. If anything,In Camera proves something quite to the contrary. Even in his unobtrusive narrative Palit shows a deep empathy for stories that he is retelling.

Even in 7 Khoon Maaf,Palit’s most commercial project till date,his camera tried to delve into the characters to extract their stories . As a particularly enthusiastic student pointed out,the Irrfan Khan–Priyanka Chopra rape sequence in the film where the camera is in the bed with the characters instead of being a voyeuristic presence. “I feel that enhanced the performances,” smiles Palit. He is full of praise about the way Vishal Bharadwaj works. “There was no shot breakdown during filming. I was given complete freedom to interpret the scene in the way I want,” he says.

His next project,another documentary,is something a little more light-hearted and quintessentially Bengali,the art of adda. “I am filming it in Kolkata and it should be ready soon ,” he sums up.