Exclusive: Pokkhirajer Dim Director Soukarya Ghosal opens up on his latest directorial
Two adventurous kids! One eccentric science enthusiast! What happens when the two come together under unusual circumstance? Pokkhirajer Dim is director Soukarya Ghosal’s latest movie and it explores the realm of fantasy. Best for children and parents to watch during their day out, it helps in unleashing the young minds and brings out their creativity and imagination to numerable possibilities. We caught up with Ghosal who elaborated on the context, genre, experience of working with the cast and more.
Excerpts
What attracts you towards fantasy?
Pokkhirajer Dim is a science fantasy film. This is a genre that I have grown up reading through the works of Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Leela Majumdar, Satyajit Ray; and reading so much that I started living it. That is one of the key points. So, when I try to hook onto a story for children, I have to go back to my own childhood. I think they are the reason for me to choose this genre.
Do you think this is a genre which is less explored?
Sadly, in India but not abroad! In India, it is less opted, I don’t know why. But whenever opted, you see if the film is good and has a good story; the zenith reached is something almost like breaking the glass ceiling. If you take Aamir Khan for an example, the kind of films he is trying to do through his production house is mostly centered on kids, like Dangal, Taare Zameen Par, Secret Superstar and all did phenomenal. So, you have to keep on doing that.
Tell us about the cast.
This is a sequel to Raibow Jelly so the two main protagonists are from the previous film. Anirban Bhattacharya and Debesh Roy Chowdhury were also there. For them I had briefed them on their roles and I read the script. Then they tried to inculcate their own nuances to the character and after a certain time when we actually got to ground zero, then we started going by that. I believe actors who are trained can actually bring something new to the table, they can actually reinterpret a character in a more better way than it was thought of.
An icon who comes to our minds in these genres is Satyajit Ray. How has his works influenced you?
Satyajit Ray is a kind of a filmmaker whom you can't fit in any single genre. He is like a glacier, and tributaries and distributaries come out of that. There’s a genre of Pather Panchali and there’s a genre of Goopi Gayen, Bagha Bayen and Feluda. So I have taken up the decision to work in the path of the latter ad he is that giant, that legend who has paved the way for us to follow , so that we don’t again have to go through that same drill. So, I try to follow that path.
Tell us about your experience of working with Mahabrata Basu and Anumegha Banerjee.
They didn’t do anything else apart from Rainbow Jelly. So, they had gone out of the entire acting spree. When I decided to make this film, all three of us had to go through the same drill of rigorous workshops for months and then everything fell into place.
If you can get a superpower, what would it be?
I would like to see how audience sees cinema.
Why is that so?
I want to understand what they like and want, that would help me as a filmmaker.
What kind of content do you like to watch?
I like to watch sci-fi, thriller, political drama.
Actors you would like to collaborate with in the future?
I would want to do a film with Aamir Khan one day.
If you had to adapt a children’s literature you have grown up with, what would it be?
Professor Shanku.
What next after Pokkhirajer Dim?
I don’t know. I have some concepts with me. Let’s see how it shapes.
Pokkhirajer Dim hits the screens on June 13
