Love, sex and violence

You have made a clean break from your trademark youth films. What triggered the move towards thrillers?

I wanted to move away from the youth films that I was doing till now. I think I have done too many yuppie, next-generation films. Now I want to work on adult themes. If Bomkesh Bakshi works, I will try and do one Bomkesh film a year. Otherwise, I want to do contemporary films for adults, not just intellectually adult but also physically. Bangla cinema is averse to sex... not the audience but the industry. There is a lack of suspense drama and adult stories. Bangla cinema is just stuck in relationships.

The other reason is that I realised I was overdoing the ensemble film. There have been quite a few of them... Chowrasta, Bow Barracks Forever, The Bong Connection, Chalo Let’s Go.... The failure of Chowrasta actually made me think that I had exhausted the ensemble film… that I should focus on one linear story. Now I want to work with straightforward characters, a lot of drama and very interesting locations.

Bomkesh Bakshi is a conventional detective thriller, old-fashioned classical cinema. With Nine Miles, I wanted to do a very acting-oriented film that would have a lot of action but be very human at the same time.

What is the story of Nine Miles?

Nine Miles is a thriller on the political issue of world terrorism and also euthanasia (mercy killing). It’s an old script that I had thought of making in Hindi a long time back. But now it’s a Bengali film around three characters and a location — a bungalow in Jorpokhri near Darjeeling. Three people are trapped in the bungalow. A husband and wife, and a trekker who takes a lift with them. The bungalow is from nowhere… a very lonely spot on a hilltop with a jungle behind. There’s an ambience of a psychological thriller and it becomes very brutal at the end. I am playing the husband, who is an elderly doctor, and Churni (Ganguly) plays my young wife. For the trekker, I took Prasoon, who has done bit parts in Raj Chakraborty’s films.

What made you cast yourself and Churni in the lead roles?

Churni, I think, is a very talented actress but she has not made it on the big screen properly yet. So, I wanted to see what happens to her on the big screen. I feel there are a lot of TV actors who are very good actors. Churni is comfortable in both Bengali and English, and she fits the part very well. She plays a dancer who is suffering from cancer.

And I thought of playing the husband because I couldn’t find anybody else. I feel that people want to see me as an actor now, especially after I became a singer. And I am not getting the right roles... except for Aparna Sen who has consistently given me good roles, after Mrinal Sen. I haven’t acted for a long time, and why not? I have a team that knows my style of working, so I feel I shouldn’t deny the actor in me. This is a 57-year-old man’s role which I could easily do and besides, my producer, Mahuaa Films, also wanted me to act. I am doing six films with them.

Why did you decide against making Nine Miles in Hindi?

I grew out of the interest of doing Hindi films. I felt I shouldn’t make a Hindi film since I didn’t have control over the language. Even with BBD... the way I am able to handle Bangla or English films is not the same with Hindi… the nuances get lost. Besides, Hindi cinema has bigger commercial demands and finally you don’t get to make the kind of film you want to make. The bigger the budget, the less control you have over your film. I realised that my area is Bangla cinema but that didn’t mean I had to do melodrama. Bangla cinema is ready to change and it’s closer to my music. I will make films within a budget where I have the freedom to do whatever I want. It is a more modern, intelligent and different kind of Bangla cinema. There is an audience for it in the suburban towns and in Kolkata, and there’s the DVD market. The catch is the budget has to be small. Once the audience grows, you can move to a bigger budget.

What’s the plotline of Bhalobasha Kare Koy and in what way is it different from Nine Miles?

Bhalobasha Kare Koy is also a thriller but much more adult than Nine Miles. While Nine Miles is set in the hills and is very political and violent, Bhalobasha Kare Koy is set in Kolkata and is more of a psychological thriller. There’s adultery and sex, and the extramarital relationship slowly moves into the thriller part. This film is about a corporate executive who has a one-night stand and then it snowballs into a crisis which tests the sanctity of his marriage. I am playing the man, June plays my wife and Sreelekha (Mitra) is the other woman.

Isn’t it tough to juggle acting and direction at the same time?

Yes, I had faced some difficulty while making the telefilms some years back. And I also had a little difficulty while making Madly Bangalee where I acted after a long time. But, as I have said, I have a team with whom I have been working for long, and now it isn’t much of a problem.



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