Filmmaker Soumik Sen, who debuted in Bollywood in 2006 as a screenplay writer of Sanjay Dutt starrer Anthony Kaun Hai, made his mark as a filmmaker with Gulaab Gang in 2014 -- a movie where Madhuri Dixit Nene and Juhi Chawla shared the screen space for the first time ever and gave stellar performances. After 13 years of surviving in Bollywood, the Mumbai-based Bengali director is debuting in Tollywood with Mahalayaon March 1.
Starring Jisshu Sengupta and Subhashish Mukeherjee, the film revolves around the famous incident in 1976, when popular radio artiste Birendra Krishna Bhadra’s rendition of Mahishasurmardini on the auspicious day of Mahalaya was replaced by Bengal’s iconic star Uttam Kumar’s voice. It met with a backlash and the All India Radio was forced to play Birendra’s version again on Sasthi, the first day of Durga Puja. We caught up with the 43-year-old director about the film and more on a spring afternoon. Excerpts:
You have also co-written the script of Mahalaya with Tanmay Mukherjee. How have you dealt with this sensitive issue?
Besides taking official rights and permissions from the families of Birendra Krishna, Pankaj Mallick and others, what was essential was to understand their points of view to what had happened exactly. It’s usually looked upon as a clash between one voice with another, but it was much more than that in reality. It happened in times of Emergency, when one had to obey certain dictats, which is also what the film is about. The political tussle in the backdrop has also been portrayed in the film.
What made you choose Subhashish and Jisshu to play Birendra and Uttam respectively?
While casting, many tend to find similar looking people. But I wanted to cast the best actors and Subhashish in his own right has a magnetic voice and is one of the most under-rated actors. For Uttam, I wanted a star and currently, Jisshu, besides being a great actor, is the reigning star in Tollywood.
How different is it to make a Bengali film?
There are several constraints since it’s a smaller industry but the sheer passion people have for filmmaking is astounding. We finished the movie in 16 days flat. There are budget constraints but that’s not a big deal because a film’s budget is dictated by the market for it, which is much smaller in scale compared to Bollywood.
Any plans for web series? Have you watched any Bengali web content?
I did Badman for Hoot and I have plans for making more web series in the future. I recently saw Byomkeshoriginal web series and Anirban Bhattacharya was outstanding and probably the best Byomkesh ever.
Has the Bengali film industry changed?
Yes, many interesting films are being made and stories are not run of the mill stuff. Tollywood movies are more subject-driven, now.
Who are your favourite actors and filmmakers in Tollywood?
Besides Prosenjit Chatterjee, I like Anirban Bhattacharya, Swastika Mukherjee and Sohini Sarkar. I like filmmaker Pradipta Bhattacharya’s work a lot.
Mahalaya releases today