Exclusive! Director Sani Ghosh Ray: Srikanto is all about pure romance and nothing else!

Popular actor Sohini Sarkar and Rishav Basu will be sharing the screen for the romantic drama, Srikanto which is adapted from Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s iconic novel of the same title. Sani Ghosh Ray has directed this timeless classic for Hoichoi.

Ray started his journey by assisting stalwart directors like Rituparno Ghosh, Sudeshna Roy, and Abhijit Guha and gradually moved to producing. Most notably, his production house Acropolis Entertainment produced Nagarkitan in 2017 which was directed by Kaushik Ganguly. The film was conferred with National Awards at the 65th National Film Awards. The film won four awards including the Special Jury Awards (Feature Film) and the National Film Award for best actor for Riddhi Sen.

Ray is considered one of the leading names in the Kolkata film industry for his unusual choices and pathbreaking content. He’s currently engaged in multiple projects, making a career as a successful producer and director with painstaking determination, resilience, and vision.

OTTplay recently caught up with Ray who shared his insights and experience.

Excerpts

How did Srikanto happen and what are your thoughts behind its treatment?

In 2020, Hoichoi produced Charitraheen which had a pretty successful run, and last year, they got in touch with me with the idea of Srikanto. So predominantly, it was their brainchild and that’s how it all started. My first thought behind the whole reinterpretation was to make it modern because the original text is almost a hundred years old because they are in the public domain, and anyone can grab a hold of these beloved literary gems, which have spawned many great pieces of adaptation.

So first, we had to change the entire gamut but some basic emotions remain unchanged and they still retain the original flavour. Love, feeling of togetherness, obsession, greed, and jealousy will always remain the same because they are inscribed into our root structure. The language or expression might differ but the core behavioural patterns are somehow familiar. Only the environment has changed and the technology has gained ground, which has affected the understanding of the society but the status quo within the nucleus remains unaffected.

And I wanted to address that innocent self through the lens of Srikanto. The narrative urges that basic core which still carries that patch of pain from their unrequited love and which still caresses that first crush moment. That sinless fervour will possibly find a connection with the audience at large. Because everybody had their share of heartbreaks, no one’s spared (smiles).

So unrequited love and secret first crush play a big part in Srikanto?

It's rather better to say that Srikanto revolves around the theme of love or innocent feelings. Usually, you don’t see pure romance on OTT. If there’s romance, it’s always shrouded or dipped in a thriller. Romance is always just a part of the whole fabric and it’s never a central theme. This is a romantic series and this show will be all about pure romance and nothing else. The audience is going to relive the moments from their childhood crush, be it a teacher, or a distant cousin, Boudi (smiles). The moments when you felt that chill maybe for the first time during your school days, an age when you can’t really figure out the refinement, grace, or logic.


Checkout the trailer

How did Sohini Sarkar and Rishav Basu enter the picture?

Sohini Sarkar is obviously a popular face and one of the better actors in our Kolkata film industry but I never had the opportunity to work with her. And there are certain plot points that I better not reveal, played a vital role behind casting her. And let me take this opportunity to say that Sohini is a dream to work with. Apart from being a good performer, she’s also a thorough professional. I always wanted to work with her but things never rolled out properly and when I approached her with the script, she agreed.

I never met Rishav before and Hoichoi made it happen. When I met and interacted with him, I was convinced. I was looking for a certain age difference between the two leads and it panned out perfectly with Rishav. Moreover, Sohini has been a part of the industry for quite some time but we have seldom seen her portraying glamourous roles. So, the idea behind turning her into an onscreen diva was appealing and I went for it.

Plenty of films and shows have been made out of epic texts but very few of them turned into something special. Can you recall any such adaptations which you liked?

I think literature and cinema are distinct forms of communication, yet they can get along and have fruitful relationships. The most vital key is the nature and tradition of adaptation itself. Because unlike the stories, the society evolves and the teller must find a way to cater to its modern needs. And there’s a distinct difference between history and memory. History is then and memory is now and successful adaptations reconstruct the past through the lens of the present. This is what I believe and according to me, Deb D is a phenomenal example of engaging retelling. Anurag Kashyap manages to retain the spirit of the source material but crafts a modern age backdrop around it. While approaching Srikanto, I was confirmed about the fact that I’m not going to make a period piece out of it, so naturally, it has to be contemporary. I had to find out what is beneath the surface of the story that has been told before and will be told again in the next 50 years. That’s the story that has been alive for centuries and will remain relevant. And in order to achieve that, creator sometimes takes certain creative liberties but he never deviates from the basic structure. While creating the world of Srikanto, we explored a portion of his childhood that is not emphasised in the source material and we had to improvise.

Tell us about the shooting schedule.

We have been planning for Srikanto since March 2021 and the schedule was pretty long. It had multiple locations. We shot in Pondicherry, Andul, Rajarhat, and in a few parts of Kolkata as well so you can understand we went through a hectic workload that involved extensive travelling. My team and I wanted to achieve a distinct look and feel and I guess that the locations have played out quite well. We wanted to create a visual difference from the rest of Kolkata’s OTT shows. Obviously, the audience will deliver the final verdict but we have invested our collective efforts in order to create that benchmark.

OST of Srikanto has already triggered a gentle stir among the binge-watching community and netizens. What was your idea behind the soundtrack?

Songs play a major role in the psychic of the Indian audience and when it is intertwined with the essence of love, it absolutely becomes a necessity. Rarely, do we come across romantic films without songs because that’s our conditioning. This is how we grew up and we still kind of celebrate a breakup with a peg and Arijit Singh even today.

And I wanted to follow a musical retelling route. We ended up with seven songs because music helps an audience member correlate with the situation better and it helps you elevate with the mise-en-scene.
He signs off. 

Sani Ghosh Ray is also working on a family thriller for ZEE5 which is currently in its post-production stage. Srikanto will be available on Hoichoi from April 14.