Transcending the borders of regional cinema

South Indian director helms Bengali film.

South Indian director helms Bengali film

S.K. Muralidharan is a South Indian who has lived and worked in Orissa for a long time. He has established himself as one of the most successful filmmakers of Orissa and an outstanding choreographer,both for the small and big screens. Though he cannot speak Bengali yet,he can make his actors understand precisely what he expects of them.

At the music launch of his first directorial venture in Bengali called Kakhono Biday Bolona which means Never Say Goodbye,he says,I cannot express in words how grateful I am to producer Pankaj Agarwal of P.B. Films Private Limited for having placed his faith in me,though Bengali is not my mother-tongue,to let me direct my first feature film, he said. Ready for release this month,Kakhono Biday Bolona is a love story with a twist that makes it different from any run-of-the-mill masala film.

I know the word different to describe a new film is a cliché now because everyone uses it loosely, says Jisshu,who is playing the main role in this love triangle. But this film has given me a role I have never played before wherein the character I play,Akash,changes his attitude,ideology and perspective as life takes him on a different course. I must say that Muralida knows his job perfectly and is very easy-going to work with. Being focussed,he does not divert from his subject for any reason.

I chose my subject with care so that my audience likes what they see and also that my producers faith in me is reinforced. Though this is basically a love story,I have packed it with a lot of action,thrills,and emotions in varied shades and even horrific incidents that suddenly change the course of the story. I have tried to focus on values within an extended family situation.

The film also stars debutant Malobika,Sumon Banerjee,Rajatava Dutta,Uttam Mohanty,Shantana Bose,Chabbi Talukdar and Mrinal Mukherjee. It has been shot extensively in Kolkata and in the exotic locales of Malaysia,which gives the film a new look. R. Bagawat is the cinematographer and the choreography is by Raju. Kakhono Biday Bolona is a classic example of transcending regional boundaries within mainstream Bengali cinema today. The producer,director and cinematographer are not Bengali. Yet,they have been able to put a film together with Bengali actors and technicians.

The trend began many years ago when the Jalans took to producing Bengali films followed by Shree Venkatesh films owned by Moni Shrikant and Shrikant Mohta who are Bengali by adoption. Today,the Bengali film industry is a happy blend of Rajasthani producers,Sindhi actors (Jeet),Anglo-Indians like George Baker who is a much-in-demand character actor,Rajesh Sharma,who plays negative roles,Ashok Singh,an excellent actor on stage,television and cinema,Priyanka (who reportedly is half-Bengali),Rishi Kaushik,who is from Assam and so on. Technicians too are stepping in steadily. Ravi Kinnagi,Muralidharan and Gaurav Pandey are filmmakers one cannot brush away just because Bengali is not their mother-tongue.