Tathagata Mukherjee on Bhotbhoti: My film talks about real people. Unlike contemporary Bengali films, it is not plastic

Actor-turn-director Tathagata Mukherjee’s surreal love story Bhotbhoti was released on August 11, along with Raj Chakraborty’s Dharmajuddha and Arindam Sil’s Byomkesh Hatyamancha. The film that features Rishav Basu, Bibriti Chatterjee, Anirban Chakrabarti and others has struggled to get shows due to the other releases. However, after the first day, the number of shows went up. 

Meanwhile, Tathagata talked to us about the style and characters of his film. “Whatever projects I have undertaken, a Hindi film, Gopone Mod Charan (a single shot film) and other films, I felt Bhotbhoti is the safest project. Bhotbhoti talks about marginal people, who work hard to make ends meet. I feel the majority of the audience comes from a humble background and they will be able to relate to the film. Bhotbhoti also talks about underdogs and losers. They probably won't win all the races but they live their life to the fullest. People who believe in god or don’t but believe in life will be able to connect with the film and be motivated. If you have faith you can create wonder. It is a story of regular people with dreams and faith,” said the director.

Talking about contemporary Bengali films, he said, “The contemporary Bengali cinema has become plastic. Those films give an idea that everybody lives in south Kolkata and they have a uniform style of speaking. My film talks about real people. Unlike contemporary Bengali films, it is not plastic. I tried to make Bhotbhoti realistic. It shows the people we see every day at marketplaces, roads and slums. The film has a commercial presentation. It is a mainstream Bengali film that is close to reality. It is a story of working-class people and their struggles. We live in a third-world country. We have our share of struggles. One who drives a car and one who travels by bus – We all have our share of struggles. Bhotbhoti talks about that struggle.”