Anjan Dutt: I didn't want to act in Murder In The Hills

Anjan Dutt is one of the few celebrities who excels at everything he works on. The actor-filmmaker-musician can easily be considered 'the man with the golden touch', for he knows exactly what the audiences love to watch and delivers the same.

His latest web series Murder In The Hills, which released on Hoichoi, is proof of the same. Anjan has worked his magic once again both as an actor and director on the show.

OTTplay got in touch with the legend and discussed movies, music, acting, among other aspects. Excerpts from the interview:

The weather throughout The Murder In The Hills gives you a sense of an impending doom. Was it intentional or happened as you shot?

We knew beforehand that we wanted to show it that way. I knew the kind of weather we have in February, which is why we started shooting then. The weather is not very clear nor is it very foggy or raining, which was perfect for my setup. We wanted that feel in Darjeeling, especially since it is a crime thriller. We wanted the place to look mysterious and not very romantic.

One of the reasons I chose Darjeeling is because I have a good control and understanding of the place. I have complete confidence in the local people and don't need to always formally approach people. I know the authorities there but I didn't want to shoot with the security but with the crowd in the market. Darjeeling is the place where I can do that. I could walk up to a shop owner and give him directions to sit a certain way. Most of the older shopkeepers know me. I could get local friends to be in the scene too. I couldn't do that anywhere else.

We also needed the place to be visually interesting and beautiful. However, it needs to have a non-touristic view of a tourist place. None of my characters have anything to do with tourism. There are the people who have gone there and something happens in their lives, which is usually romance. On the contrary, there are very few films about people who stay there, which is what my series explores. There are doctors, police personnel etc living even in the tourist locations.

The Bengali community has been living in Darjeeling for a long time. I had a house, so did my father. Thus, my characters are very real. One of my correspondent journalist friends, who is a Bengali, was helping me out. I have friends who are teachers, SPs, DSPs, doctors who have married a Nepali and stay there. They speak Bangla. We wanted to show a different look of Darjeeling.

While the show could have been shot elsewhere, Darjeeling definitely has a merit of its own with the mountains and more. The visuals can be much better. I just had to make up and not add up to the scenes.

Umpteen number of filmmakers have gone to shoot there. Even Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor had a suite in a hotel. While we have seen actors, we haven't seen directors working there.

Every character in the series is hiding a secret and has grey shades. Could you say those qualities are a reflection of the society?

Yeah, I think every character and person has shades of grey in them. Everybody has secrets and tragedies in their lives, but at the same time, it is important for me to make these characters likeable. When you are working for a web series, you watch it because you are interested. However, if it's a franchise, then you have to like the character more than the action in the series. What keeps you hanging - whether you think of any series like Breaking Bad or Money Heist - are the loveable characters. Thus, I decided to make the characters likeable with their greyness and darkness. Obviously they go through tension, thrill and suspense but you are sure to like them. In order to get to the second season, you have to like the characters or connect to them. Since this is a personal experience, so you feel interested if they are real and yet likeable. Despite the fact that one of them of course is the killer, you will like every character, or at least that's what I tried to do. It's what works, why franchises work. You wouldn't watch Byomkesh as much if you don't like the character, right?

What made you pick the role of a star who dies instead of someone else who has an extended role?

I didn't want to act in the series. Initially I just wanted to be a director. The director can change in the second season. Here, I stepped in because I can handle the place. I wanted to be the creator of the series. I approached umpteen number of people and eventually I thought it was a small role and so I took it up. His past is important. The team thought that I could do justice to it. I'm not here just as an actor but as a surprise. When you see it, he's there in some way or there. That is immaterial.

I cast younger people because others also want to see younger actors. That is the same even in Bollywood and Hollywood. Everybody in Murder In The Hills came with a bang! These actors are such that you want to watch them. They have a huge fan following. You want to watch Jaideep Ahlawat and the likes. Since everybody wants to watch young actors, I cast these actors. You don't usually see them. I had worked with three actors before but I love working with new people. I can handle actors, which is why also I decided to direct.

There's a scene where every prominent actor on the show comes together. Was it tough to direct them, especially during such scenes?

Not at all. They are friends. Even though I'm 66, I've always interacted with young people. My films have always been about young people, whether Finally Bhalobhasha or anything. I've always loved working with them. Maybe somebody has done more work than the other but we all merge as a team. We work, eat, live and sleep together. They all had to live in Darjeeling and they loved it. I enjoy suggesting how to survive. They were also good friends before working on the show so half the time they were hanging in each other's rooms. Even when they weren't in the shot, they would help with the props etc. They weren't sitting in between. I don't function that way.

Most of them bought their own costumes. Some of them wore my old clothes. I made sure that the clothes were suiting my scene. I wouldn't allow a white linen coat where a blue linen coat was needed. Along with the locations, my costumes were very well planned. Somehow we pulled it off. The clothes would look designed but it's actually their own style. We got a few of the costumes from Hoichoi too.

You have made some of the most unconventional films, which have fresher concepts. What is your mindset behind backing such projects?

One of the reasons is that I believe in popular cinema. My music is popular and not jazz. I'm not someone who makes art films. My stories and music are populist. I will not be able to make a crass commercial cinema but I love popular films. I love Bollywood - Sholay. I think populism is about breaking new grounds. You have to change with time to be with the time. You have to do a different cinema every time for that. Of course, a murder mystery has been done to death but you have to make sure that it is with the time. The feeling cannot be old. Nothing is original after Shakespeare. Love, passion, death, betrayal, spirituality - everything has been explored to death. You have to break rules and think of a new concept and also, a web series has to be interesting. It cannot look like a Television show but cinema, probably a small-screen cinema. It has to be shot like cinema. It cannot have two people continuously talking. It needs to have a scale, which is why it is the new cinema. However, it is also different from films in the sense that it is breaking new grounds as a subject matter because it is being viewed by just one person of his or her laptop. It isn't a family viewing experience. A Bengali from Noida and Nagpur are watching it on their phone or laptop individually. That is where the concept needs to change. Of course there will be thrillers and fan-fictions but it has to be new and different, which is what excites me too. I'm not doing it because of COVID-19 but because I like to be in with the time. I like to do things which could be relatable and exciting to the new people.

We thought of having songs in the background instead of the background score. The song couldn't be one of my romantic songs. It has to be either touching or rap or electronica. We need such things because it is the requirement of the time. The Western people buy rights to songs and use it in very strange ways. Bengali OTT reaches out to different audiences who want to hear different kinds of songs. They want a mix of Hindi, Bangla and more. That is the language of Darjeeling. If I'm a populist, I have to change the scenario. Otherwise how will I be the one with time? I would end up doing old-time cinema, which I have never done, like you rightly said. Why would I do that?

After a long time, I have found interesting characters like a cop, doctor, teacher etc. These characters are different from what I've done. Nobody's hanging around with a guitar. We have a young journalist etc.

Byomkesh is a concept that has been explored by many people. You are one of the few people whose project has been viewed the most. What do you think makes people come back and watch it?

I think it's because of the writing. I have huge regards for the writer, whoever it is. I like my writing to be understood because I'm a scriptwriter myself. I change the script for cinematic references but I try and work closely with the writer. Fans of Byomkesh or literature became fans because I kept the book intact.

You are a legend in the music industry. You introduced alternative Bengali music. What brings you back to directing when you have already made a mark in music?

I wanted to be a musician. It is my hobby. I wanted to be an actor - a sensible, popular actor. I couldn't connect with the mainstream cinema people were making. My seniors like Shabana (Azmi), Pankaj (Kapur) entered the mainstream because of the change happening in the cinema. If I couldn't be an actor, I chose directing but couldn't directly jump into that. That is when I switched to music. From 1992, I decided to work on songs and do some extracurricular activities. I never realised that I would become a musician. It wasn't planned. Now that I am popular there, I cannot shy away because it is the same audience who is coming to watch my work. So now I add songs in my films or web series.

How important music is to a storyline?

It's very important. Good films or web series need to have music. It's integral. I'm not talking about only musical films. Songs enhance a work. Take Bella Ciao for example. The theme music of these films and series are also very important. You cannot get away without putting music. Even Satyajit Ray was the master of parallel films. Take Pather Panchali. Even that has great music. You need a good director who has a sense of literature and music.

What's next for you?

Another web series. I'm interested in that now. I flirted with music and even that became serious which is why it became so popular. I don't want to write a novel, so I want to experience the web as a whole. I want to do more series even after the lockdown. Season 2 of Murder In The Hills and another web series is in the kitty. It's how I reach out to global Bengalis.