Dreams fulfilled

My methods,if there are any,have evolved over the years. I have never had a ‘method’ to speak of but have allowed ideas,memories and dreams to float from within me. Today,I think in terms of images and keep storing them in the hard disk of my mind. I can recall and translate them into the idiom of cinema whenever I wish to. These images keep coming back in my films in many different ways.

Janala (The Window) recently won the Best Feature Film Award at Taipei’s 54th Asia Pacific Film Festival. How do you respond to this award?

The happiest thing about the award is that Janala won over the other 55 films from 18 countries in the Asia Pacific region vying for the honours. Produced by Reliance Pictures and starring Indraneil Sengupta,Swastika Mukherjee and Tapas Pal,it was premiered in the Masters of World Cinema section at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008. Since then,it has been screened at 15 film festivals,including the International Film Festival of India and New York and Dubai film festivals. Then this award at Taipei happened. What saddens me is that the film got its Indian release only recently though the critics have panned it well. Janala is an attempt to be reminiscent of the times when we sometimes try to make a simple dream come true,but the cogs of destiny leave us feeling unfulfilled.

Is Woh your first attempt to film a work of Rabindranath Tagore?

Yes,it is my first Hindi film after Bagh Bahadur and also my first film for childrenwhich is being produced by the Children’s Film Society of India. It is also my first feature film based on a work by Rabindranath Tagore. Woh has an interesting history. Actress Nandita Das,when she was chairperson of the Children’s Film Society,India,had been persuading me to make a film for children. This happened to coincide with the international celebrations around Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary. I could not refuse her offer. The happiest thing about this film is that a Tagore creation targeted at children is being made in Hindi on the sesquicentennial year of the poet’s birth.

What is the story of Woh about?

The original story is called Shey in Bengali meaning Woh. Tagore wrote this story during the last days of his life. It is about a nine-year-old girl called Pupey portrayed by a new girl named Aratrika Ghosh. The concept of the character is supposed to be based on Tagore’s close friendship with an adoptive grand-daughter. It does not fall within the much read works of Tagore but it has a lot of depth as the story shows how little children can mouth things that carry great insight that adults cannot. One moving feature of the story is its strikingly original form of narration that breaks away from conventional storytelling styles. I had to take great care to organise my screenplay in a way that would reach out and touch the children who come to watch the film. We decided to make it in Hindi because the film would have a wider reach across the country.

Is the shooting over?

Yes,we shot extensively on location for 22 days at a stretch in Purulia district in West Bengal which happens to be my favourite location. We also shot some sequences in Kashipur,a small town in Purulia. The film also stars Raj Zutshi,Barun Chanda and Yama Saraf. Sunny Joseph has done the cinematography and the music has been composed by my daughter Alakananda Dasgupta. I am very happy with the location work because everyone was extremely cooperative and creative,especially my main actress Aratrika. We are now into post-production. Woh is touched by my personal style,treatment and approach to filmmaking. It will not be a transliteration of Tagore on celluloid. It will be a Buddhadeb Dasgupta interpretation of Tagore.

What next?

My next project is called Anwar-er Aschorjo Kahini—The Strange Story of Anwar penned by me. Cloaked as a thriller,it is the story of an investigative young man’s self-revelation. We have not decided on the casting yet.

Are you happy with the current trends in Bengali cinema?

Yes,things seem to be looking up. Sanjoy Nag’s Memories in March is one of the finest films I have seen in recent times. I would also like to mention Moner Manush,Autograph and Aar Ekti Premer Golpo. These films are pulling audiences back to theatres to watch Bengali films.

On the jury

Renowned Bengali director Buddhadeb Dasgupta has been appointed chairman of the jury to select the Kerala State Film Awards for the year 2010. The jury will select the best article and book on cinema,according to a release from the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. Secretary of the academy,K S Sreekumar,would be the member secretary of the jury.

PTI