Chandreyee Ghosh and Sunita Hazra share their thoughts about Mission Everest 

Four climbers from West Bengal embarked on a daring journey to conquer Mt. Everest on one fateful night of April 2016. While the climb ended in a tragedy with three perishing on the way to its summit, Sunita Hazra, the only female climber in the team made history by becoming the lone survivor to have conquered her fate. Her courage, valour and journey have recently been brought to life by filmmaker Debaditya Bandyopadhyay through a film titled Mission Everest. The film sees ace actor Chandreyee Ghosh step into the shoes of Sunita Hazra to retrace the fateful ascent, and Sunita’s story. We catch up with both the real and reel life Sunita to learn more about Mission Everest.

Chandreyee, how challenging has Sunita’s role been?

The event was a life changing experience for Sunita and breathing life into her character on screen also required me to take up challenges that I never thought I was capable of. She gave me a lot of strength. Fighting against nature is next to impossible, and only someone who is almost god-like holds the courage to do so. I continuously found myself wondering how courageous a person needs to be in order to do something nearly similar to what she has. The role was definitely made easier by her, her husband and our team as otherwise I would have had a thousand questions at every step. They helped me get the nitty gritties of the role right no matter what the location was or how complex the situation seemed like. I believe this is the most challenging role I have taken up in my life.

Thoughts about the reel life Sunita?

Chandreyee: I believe this sort of a role is extremely inspiring for any actor as it opens new pathways for them. Mountaineering has seldom been explored in Bengali films before hence Mission Everest seems all the more special to me. All of us have put in more than our hundred percent for this movie, and done things we never imagined we could. Each of us have discovered aspects about us that we were not aware of previously.

Sunita: I really wanted my story, especially from the journey to reach people so that they understand the challenges and realise nothing is impossible. This is exactly why I said yes when the crew approached me to turn the journey into a film. I am truly stunned by the dedication of the actors and the crew. We train for months, and days before any expedition and are usually mentally prepared for all sorts of adversities. On the contrary, the cast and crew of Mission Everest showed outstanding passion towards the project despite not being trained mountaineers.

Sunita, what made you pursue mountaineering?

Sunita: I have grown up in rural Bengal and loved taking part in sports from a young age. My first rock climbing experience was in Purulia, and despite family restrictions my passion for rock climbing eventually developed into love for the mountains and adventure. I took up multiple professional courses from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and fell in love with the local lives of people from the hills who survive adversities every other day. I believe observing nature up close also helps one learn a lot about themselves. My husband and son supported me immensely to pursue my passion, and my husband even went to an extent to sell our house to fund my expeditions. It was only because of my husband that I started climbing peaks again 2012 onwards after a nine year hiatus.  

Chandreyee, as an actor how did you prepare yourself for this role?

I insisted on being trained like a professional athlete and started working out twice a day for forty five minutes each, two months ahead of the shoot schedule. The role required immense body and mental strength as each of the shots would take up to 1.5 to 2 hours to be shot. All of the shots involved me wearing authentic mountaineering gears which weighed kilos in itself. Each member of the crew also had to undergo several fitness tests and take medications along with them to combat challenges like altitude sickness. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and salute not just the actors but every person behind the camera, and especially Sunita for their courage and the dedication they hold towards their respective passion.

Mission Everest now in theatres.