Tollywood director Raj Chakraborty’s debut in the OTT world with Abar Proloy, a crime-thriller show, has created a stir not just for the ensemble cast, exotic location, and action sequences, but also because you get to see actors in avatars like never before. But Raj doesn’t regret a late start in the web-world. “For such an avant-garde project, the right time was needed apart from the right actors and a huge budget. Abar Proloy happened when everything fell into place,” adds Raj. We speak to the director to know more about Abar Proloy, working with Subhashree Ganguly as the producer, and more.
How is Abar Proloy different from the previous ones?
In 2011, I made a television serial Proloy Ashche, starring Abir Chatterjee, Paran Bandopadhyay, Saayoni Ghosh among others. It was a limited edition show shot with a Red Camera but people liked it so much that I had to take Proloy to the big screens. The movie, based on true events, happened in 2013, and now, it’s back after a decade in a web series format. This time it takes the audience to the Sunderbans where crime branch officer Animesh Datta (Saswata Chatterjee) is on a mission to nab the mastermind of a girl child trafficking racket. It will be a full-on entertainment thriller with dollops of comedy, drama, and action!
How easy or difficult is it to work with such a huge cast?
Not at all difficult for me. The actors or technicians that we have in this industry are all extremely talented, and all are looking forward to doing some good work. I always look forward to working with a multi-starrer cast. I enjoy this completely.
How was it different from shooting for a movie?
The difference lies in storytelling and shooting angles. For the web, the story needs to be crisp, and the lensing is different since it is done keeping in mind the dimensions of a mobile phone. Each episode needs to have high points so that the viewers move on to the next episode. Along with these, you can make it a lot more layered and include two or more points of view.
How is Subhashree as a producer?
I think from a business pointof-view, every person should have a separate identity, and both Subhashree and I have different views. To make a great film, an understanding between the director and producer should be on point, and the director should be free to make decisions, and not be answerable to anyone. That happened with Subhashree, which further helped me create Abar Proloy.
Crime thrillers are so in. What do you think works for the viewers?
The element of suspense, I think, works for everyone, across platforms, languages, or even ages. Each one of us has a detective within us, and we try to start guessing who the culprit/antagonist is from the word go. As a director, I think, how well you can hide the villain is most important. If the viewers can guess who that person is before you formally disclose it, then it wouldn’t work. Also, the storytelling should be in such a way that the audience gets to know the key points of the story at the climax. That will whet their appetite further.
Abar Proloy is streaming on Zee5.