Exclusive! Bratya Basu on Jhora Palok: Playing an icon like Jibanananda Das was a challenge for me

Bratya Basu and Jaya Ahsan-starrer poet Jibanananda Das’ biopic Jhora Palok will be released on June 24. Directed by Sayantan Mukherjee. The film was screened at the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival. The film will feature Bratya as the poet and Jaya as his wife, Labanya. The film also features a host of theatre artistes, including Debshankar Halder, Kaushik Sen and Biplab Banerjee, among other characters. Rahul Banerjee will be seen as a young Jibanananda.

Before the release, actor-director-turn-politician Bratya talked to OTTplay about the character and his preparations. “Buddhadeb Basu pointed out that Jibanananda was a loner as a person. I also found him to be a very private man. I have always been an ardent reader of Jibanananda and to prepare for the character, I read a lot of his biography. That is to understand him as a person. It was not an easy character,” said the actor.

Bratya thinks the film will appeal to a niche audience. “I feel that this film will cater to a niche audience. We have done our part and now it is also important for the audience to put forward an effort to remember an icon like him,” the actor told us. The actor has also said that Jaya has been very cooperative in the film.

Meanwhile, Bratya is gearing up to shoot his next directorial venture, Hubba. The film that features Bangladeshi actor Mosharraf Karim and Jisshu U Sengupta will go on the floors in September. This will be Bratya’s second collaboration with Mosharraf after Dictionary which also features Abir Chatterjee and Nusrat Jahan in the lead.

Bratya Basu will also play Thespian Girish Ghosh in Srijit Mykherji’s dream project, Lawho Gouranger Naam Re. The film is expected to go on the floors in November.