Abar Proloy-director Raj Chakraborty: Bengalis don’t take you seriously unless you make a Byomkesh or a Feluda

Raj Chakraborty is all set to debut on OTT with Abar Proloy on Zee5. With a huge star cast, including Saswata Chatterjee, Paran Bandyopadhyay, Ritwick Chakraborty, Koushani Mukherjee, Sohini Sengupta, and others, the teaser, trailer, and the other visuals promise a treat in store for the viewers. Abar Proloy will be released on August 11 – the same day as the theatrical release of Dev’s Byomkesh O Durgo Rohoshyo. In a chat with OTTplay, Raj talked about his vision around Abar Proloy, his commitment to commercial cinema, and a lot more. Read on...

Abar Proloy marks your debut on OTT. How was your experience?

OTT is different from film and television. Each of these is different from the others. When I am making a web series, I keep in mind multiple things like – thinking that your viewers can watch it on their mobile phone, thinking of the limited episodes and how to end each episode with a cliffhanger, and so on. I did a lot of preparations for this debut. One story is told very differently on these three platforms – TV, film, and on OTT.

I make commercial films and I love doing that. For me entertaining people means everything. I am not a fan of very serious cinema but I take entertainment seriously. In Abar Proloy, I treated every episode as a film. Every 30-odd-minute-long episode has a tight story, action, romance, suspense, comedy, emotion, and songs.

One more thing that is important in making a web series is the use of the lens. It is the technical side, but which lens you are using to shoot which part of the film becomes very important in making a web series. This is also something I realised.

Abar Proloy is mounted on a big scale with outstanding visuals and outdoors. Aren’t you sad that it will not be shown on a big screen?

Aren’t we all tired of tiny plots caged into the four walls of a drawing room? Why do we need to be locked in a room? Look at the scale of national OTT productions. They are huge. They are mounted on a large scale. With Abar Proloy, I also wanted to point out to the national houses that we can aim at doing a large-scale production. We can mount stories on a large spectrum. When we talk to the national channels, they always say that we do things on a small scale and hence the budget and everything become limited. But why is that true? I clearly stated and maintained that if I ever make a web series, it will be enormous – big, blinding, and gorgeous.

How did the idea of Abar Proloy incept?

Abar Proloy is my story. People often think that I don’t write. I came up with the story and then Shouvik and I penned it. I chose Sunderban. It was not easy. But if you are planning to mount something so big, you need to make it a part of you since its germination.

After your teaser, the look of Ritwick Chakraborty was criticised for being a copy of Pankaj Tripathi’s look in Sacred Games. What do you have to say about that?

Linking things is our nature. I will not say anything. I want people to watch the episodes and then we will talk about it. If I say anything right now, there will be a chance that the story will be revealed.

Also read: Abar Proloy: After Alia Bhatt’s Khela Hobe, Raj Chakraborty blends the phrase in a dance number 

Meanwhile, you have brought Koushani Mukherjee in a never-seen-before avatar…

I have a special place in my heart for the artistes who are born out of the commercial space in the Bengali cinema. I have an urge to prove to people that given a chance, they can prove that they are good actors and actresses. If there were no Panineeta or Indubala Bhaater Hotel, nobody would know that Subhashree has such potential within her. I wanted to offer Koushani that chance. People take no time to judge an actor/actress if they have a commercial film background. People demoralise them, and bash them for being popular through singing, dancing, and fighting. I went through this ordeal for a long time. No one took me seriously and said I have no originality. I want to tell everyone that the potential these so-called actors and actresses with commercial-film backgrounds have, they can compete at the national level. I wanted to give Koushani that chance.

Also read: Abar Proloy: Swaswata Chatterjee calls Raj Chakraborty a ‘star maker’ 

Abar Proloy will be released along with Byomkesh O Durgo Rohoshyo. Did you ever feel like directing a Byomkesh or a Feluda film in your life?

Of course, I wanted to. In Bengal, nobody takes you seriously if you don’t make a Byomkesh film. I wanted to make a Byomkesh and a Feluda but nobody let me do that. No one believes that I could make a sensible serious film. I am always critised for being a commercial filmmaker. No producer trusted me with a Byomkesh.

Now that Subhashree is coming up with a production house, will that be a competition or cooperation for you?

Cooperation, of course. She has a different plan. She wants to deal with new talents and stories. My house is all about big productions. She will probably make two films a year. We will work together with our houses.

You are coming up with a big commercial film with SVF and Jio Studios. What’s the plan?

All I can tell you is that you haven’t seen anything as big as this one. It will be a true-blue blockbuster.