What happens when a sexual allegation puts your otherwise perfectly balanced life into a toss? What happens if your partner gets charged with #MeToo? What exactly does the family go through? Do the otherwise supportive neighbours, relatives and friends change their colours? Web series Noshtoneer, that’s streaming on Hoichoi from today, addresses all that and more. A gripping social drama -- written by Samragnee Bandyopadhyay and directed by Aditi Roy with Sandipta Sen in the lead – it delves deep into the layers of relationships in the backdrop of a #MeToo case labelled against an academic, whose wife Aparna has been deftly played by Sandipta.
After the riveting series Bodhon, this is Aditi’s second OTT project and Samragnee too pens her second one after Uttoron.
We have an organic chat with the women brigade comprising the very talented Aditi, Sandipta and Samragnee about the series.
What got you interested in Noshtoneer?
Aditi: When creative producer Shera told me about the show, it got me hooked because of the topic. The kind of movies I have done so far, all centre around relationship tales, be it Abosheshey which is a lucid mother-son spiel, Onyo Bosonto which is all about finding true love in an apparently wrong person or Dawat e Biryani, a saga of a granddaughter bringing back the lost times for the sake of her grandparents. Even my first web series, Bodhon, too, was in the bigger scheme of things a story of a student and a teacher. How they started a journey together shook me to the core.
Noshtoneer too is a family drama where all the elements of interpersonal relationships are there and shows how an unexpected incident changes the equations of people around us. All these dynamics have also been explored besides the main plot that revolves around #MeToo. So, I would not define it as a woman-centric series at all.
Samragnee: I always have loved writing about relationships and incidentally the films and series I have done so far centre around women. That doesn’t mean I won’t tell a man’s story. But I felt the stories that I have written so far, needed to be told, which is more important.
I loved Rituparno Ghosh’s Dosar, where I feel the relationship between the two women was not explored much. I wanted to explore that area and when #MeToo happened I thought of exploring the same in that context. When I heard this would be directed by Aditi, I was very relaxed and started writing freely. We sat a couple of times and shared our points of view and it was definitely a great collaboration.
It’s a delicate subject and we saw how even a significant movement like #MeToo had been at times misused. In this story, there’s no hero or villain but there are characters with several shades of grey and to make them believable and justifiable I had to write very carefully. I conceived Aparna as a strong-willed, assertive woman who prioritised her family over anything.
But Noshtoneer’s characters stayed with me long after I finished writing the story. While writing the series, I also did research on #MeToo as a part of my studies, so I often went back into my past re-evaluating certain pages from my life and reflecting whether what felt innocent back then was really so or not. A lot of memories came back to haunt me and it was a journey of self-discovery.
Sandipta, how did you prepare to play such a character?
Sandipta: I was so glad to be offered Aparna’s role. I have always played very upfront characters, but Aparna has a softer, mellower demeanour, so I sat with Aditi to get the tone and body language right.
How difficult or easy it is for you all to get the work of your choice?
Aditi: I believe that we can always turn them the way we visualize things. Not everything will be to our liking but we can mould them to suit our palate.
Sandipta: I have always seen Aditi like this -- level-headed. She never loses her cool on the sets and seeks solutions to problems rather than throwing a feat.
Is budget a constraint in the Bengali industry?
Aditi: Regional industries will always have a limited budget and I don’t see that as a constraint. If I can conceive and think clearly then execution is no great deal. If you watch this series too, you would understand that. If we film in innovative ways, many scenes get elevated.
We can never have budgets here like Bollywood but even then, such fantastic films like Ballavpurer Roopkatha get made. Mounting scenes well makes a huge difference and I always prefer thinking like that and giving my best despite the constraints. If I lose 4 out of my 14 precious hours fretting over things, it will harm my work only.
I remember while filming a scene for Bodhon in the dead of the night, some actors crucial to the scene were accidentally asked to pack off and leave before it got filmed. There was no way we could get them back that night but I had to finish the shoot. We managed that by changing the lensing of the camera. This is how we work without comprising in the quality of the scenes.
Has helming television projects helped you?
Aditi: Definitely, the discipline one learns there is incredible and it takes one through a different grill. That learning has helped me too.
How do you look at your journey so far?
Aditi: I learnt a lot in these 13 years of my career. I have not changed much since when I began in terms of my work ethic, but I definitely got enriched working with so many talented people including my actors.
Samragnee: I am just the opposite of Aditi – I am very impulsive. I am also very new to the industry but I am lucky to get very understanding people around me. I have learnt not to get agitated over small things and see the bigger picture. The story I want to tell shouldn’t get lost and for that, if I have to adjust a little I will do that.
What inspires you?
Aditi: As film studies students, we got exposed to world cinema and other such things that taught us how to think in a certain way. Ritwik Ghatak always inspires me as a maker. I love spectacle and larger-than-life lensing and frames. I have a wish to make a musical someday.
Sandipta: I love observing everyone around me. Also, it’s in my nature to attain perfection in whatever I do, be it a small or a big role.
Aditi: Sandipta is a very eager learner and a sincere actor who is ready to walk that extra mile to be in the skin of a character.
Samragnee: I too draw inspiration from the daily lives of people around me.
Your upcoming projects?
Aditi: My next project is season 2 of Bodhon where Sandipta too will be there. I have no hurry in the world and I want to give my 100 per cent to anything I do, hence I love taking on projects at my own pace. Also, someday I want to leave everything and open a pet rescue centre.
Samragnee: Already one film and one series written by me has released this year, which is too much for me. I too, like Aditi, have no hurry in the world.
Sandipta: I will start shooting for Bodhon 2 and two more films.
Noshtoneer is streaming on Hoichoi