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Exclusive! Indranil Roychowdhury: Only stars can’t save a film. For that, you need a good script, acting, and other things

The director has started his Zee5 web series, Chhotolok, with Priyanka Sarkar, Daminee Basu, Gourav Chakrabarty, Indrani Halder, Ushasi Ray, Ushasie Chakraborty, and others playing key characters

Exclusive! Indranil Roychowdhury: Only stars can’t save a film. For that, you need a good script, acting, and other things

Indranil Roychowdhury

Last Updated: 02.03 PM, Oct 15, 2022

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Director Indranil Roychowdhury is known for his uncompromising stand vis-à-vis his filmmaking process. He takes time to develop the script and prepare his actors and actresses before starting the shoot. By his admission, he does not believe in fast films. After the success of his film Mayar Jonjal (Debris Of Desire) in the global festival circuit, the director has started his web series, Chhotolok, for Zee5. Billed as a thriller, the show has Priyanka Sarkar, Daminee Basu, Gourav Chakrabarty, Indrani Halder, Ushasi Ray, Ushasie Chakraborty, and others playing key characters. Indranil wishes to make a ‘pure Bengali thriller’ devoid of ‘Hollywood, Nordic or Korean’ influence. Indranil and his team took their time to process the script, finalise the actors and conduct acting workshops for months before going to the floors. As the long schedule of shooting started earlier this week, the director talks to OTTplay about the importance of preparations for a series or a film, the scarcity of writers in the Bengali film industry, and the fading star power in the entertainment industry. Read on…

Why did you choose to make a thriller?

I always wanted to make a thriller. Ekti Bangali Bhooter Goppo is close to a thriller but there are limitations. I wanted to make a Bengali thriller for a long time. A thriller that is not influenced by or follows the path of Hollywood, Nordic or Korean concepts. In our country, their stories somehow fall flat. I wanted to make a modern Bengali thriller that fits perfectly in our taste.

You took a fairly long time to prepare for the project before you started the actual shooting…

It took us about two months to figure out if it is possible to adapt from an existing literary work. That did not work out and then I started to develop the original story. The process of conceptualising, writing, and rewriting took another 10 months before we could start shooting.

That is fairly a long time. Is it a viable model in the Bengali film industry?

No, it is not. But it is imminent and important. You will have to give the needed incubation time for any content you want to create. Certain series on global platforms like Netflix and Amazon take about two to two and a half years to incubate before they start shooting. We took about 10 months to prepare which is a lot going by Kolkata standards. It is not only true for web series but also feature films. The quality of content largely depends upon the preparation of the project. In the Bengali industry, we spend a lot of money on shooting, cast, and post-production. However, writing, rewriting, workshops, and other pre-production work are also very important. That culture is still missing in this industry. However, we see fierce competition from Bangladesh. With a limited budget, their content is brilliantly executed. Their production may reflect their limited budget but there is no deficit in preparation and mindful execution.

There is one more problem that we face here in Kolkata and that is the lack of trained writers. Trained scriptwriting is an important part of content creation and seriously don’t have many of them. In the last few years, the fees of actors, directors, and DOPs’ fees went up. Writers need to be well compensated so that they don’t settle down in Mumbai. So many writers from Kolkata are settled in Mumbai. And also, writers should be trained well. I believe the scene will change eventually. If we focus a bit more on preparations, not only will the quality of the project go up, but the entire making process also becomes very organised.

You are known to be a director who gives time to the preparation process. Is that one of the reasons why you make fewer films?

The number of my films is abysmally low. I feel that if I am creating a film or a web series then what is the point in not doing it the way I want to? In many cases, the artistic choice doesn’t match. I have no problem making commercially viable films but I have a problem with fast films that are not well-made.

Before starting Chhotolok, you and your team focused on acting workshops with all the actors in the show. Was it easy to get all the actors for rehearsals?

It was not difficult. I think they enjoyed the process. I think if it becomes standard practice, there should not be any problem. In Chhotolok, we have a huge cast. Besides the known names like Priyanka Sarkar, Daminee Basu, Gourav Chakrabarty, Indrani Halder, Ushasi Ray, Ushasie Chakraborty, and others, we have a total of 99 speaking characters. We had workshops for over two and a half months. That’s a lot of time.

You are working with a national platform. How supportive was their team?

They have been supportive from a creative point of view. In a national organisation, they have a structure in place. You have to go through a certain process. Their team, especially the one in Kolkata, has been supportive. The channel wanted bankable faces and I agreed with them. Known faces help us draw an audience in the initial phase and I agree with that.

Do you think in the time of OTT, the star power is being overtrumped by the content?

Stars have an initial draw for a film or a web series and that comes from the familiarity of the actors and actresses. Once the viewers explore the content, it becomes different. In recent days, you will see every successful Bengali film has benefitted from word of mouth. There, more than the star value, their acting calibre is judged. Only star value will not make a film or a web series successful. For that, you need a series of successes in storytelling, script, acting, and so on.

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