Dakghor controversy: Avishek Saha opens up, says his ‘self-respect’ did not allow him to take credit

Three days after actress Sudita Chakraborty took to her social media handle to point out her husband Avishek Saha’s participation in the making of Hoichoi’s web series Dakghor, the director opened up about the issue. In a long post, he elaborated on the allegation and counter-allegations over Suhotra Mukhopadhyay and Ditipriya Roy’s series that is currently streaming on Hoichoi. 

Also read: Dakghor review: Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Ditipriya Roy, and Kanchan Mullick’s village life will fill your heart 

As per the credit line that is streaming right now, the show is directed by Abhrajit Sen. Four days after the show was dropped, Sudipta hinted at Avishek’s involvement as the director. According to sources, based on a borrowed concept, Padmanabha Dasgupta penned the story, dialogues, and screenplay. Later, Avishek was commissioned by Hoichoi as the director. The production house did not approve the shoot. Even the reshoot by Avishek was rejected. Later. Abhrajit was commissioned by Hoichoi and he completed the shoot. In fact, the producer reached out to Avishek to incorporate his name on the credit scroll. According to sources close to the industry, he refused. Soon after Sudipta’s post, the DOP of Dakghor who worked with Avishek alleged that his due has not been cleared by the production house. 

On Friday, Avishek wrote that it was his ‘self-respect’ that stopped him from taking credit for Dakghor. Elaborating on his side of the story, he said that despite repeated requests, the channel (Hoichoi) did not allow him to use a second camera that was approved for the shoot. He further said, “Budget constraint is a perennial problem of the Bengali film industry. That’s why producers usually select a story that is doable within a limited budget. But Dakghor was not that story,” he said. The director further informed that the second camera was used in the next bit of the shoot, which was done by the newly recruited team.   

Avishek explained the allegation against him for going to London during the post-production work was his work commitment and it was communicated to the team well in advance. He said that the patch shoot and meetings took place after he was back and he was not informed despite a number of phone calls to the production team and channel. 

Meanwhile, Avishek also said that the trailer used almost 80% of the shots that Mrinmoy and he has taken. “I have not watched the series yet but the trailer used around 80% of the shots that we have taken,” he wrote and added that he is happy to see the shots that were termed ‘rubbish’ were finally used and hence the show ‘was not re-shot’ but only ‘some patch shoot’ was done.

Also read: Dakghor fiasco: Avishek Saha wants to move on, Abhrajit Sen says he was commissioned by Hoichoi 

Avishek insisted that he wants to move on and that his silence before and after this post is ‘his choice’ and should not be seen as his escape. He also asked people to watch Dakghor.