THIRUVANATHAPURAM: “Just as you learn batting from bowlers, I am trying to learn film-making by watching more and more films.” The excitement and anxiety were quite palpable in these words of Ritwik Mukherjee, senior assistant editor with the ‘Financial Chronicle’ and an author, when we caught up with him to talk about his directorial debut in Bengali, ‘Grihaprabesh’. The reason why he was in the city was Pandit Ramesh Narayan, who is composing music for the film.
The main people behind the venture, ie Ritwik; Dr Partho Das Chowdhury, the producer, who is also the CEO of eMotions Infomedia, which is into image-based security and process solutions; Pandit Ramesh Narayan; Amitaditya Sanyal, an exponent in Rabindra Sangeet and a singer in the movie; and Aditya Narayan Banerjee, a tabla exponent who was instrumental in introducing Ramesh Narayan’s music to Ritwik and Partho Das, had recently got together at Iris Digitals in the city where the basic tracks of the movie were recorded.
The movie is based on Ritwik’s own novel ‘Grihaprabesh: Housewarming & The Journey Beyond’. The story ‘underlines the changes of the socio-economic and political conditions of the world and the helplessness of the people caught in the vortex’. The film spans over four decades through Atalanta’s time travel - his childhood, days with his grandpa, school, college, university days and then his professional life, and married life with Suchismita.
Ritwik said, “We wanted a film which stood out in all respects. Regarding music, once we heard Rameshji’s songs, we were mesmerised. He is dedicated and a thorough professional.” Ritwik has written the lyrics “because my producer felt I could do it. It is because of him that I am directing it as well.” He has done post-graduation in Economics and PG diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication. It was during his stints with Doordarshan, Star Ananda and Akash Bangla that he got exposed to audio-visual genre.
It is a debut venture for Partho Das as well, who otherwise is busy with his company which is into providing security and surveillance solutions to various institutions and firms, which include the Motor Vehicles Department in Kerala. “The story appealed to me. I could relate with the character. Also, I felt there are very few well-meaning films coming up in Bengali. Earlier, Bengali films were made into Hindi and now we are copying what they do in Mumbai,” said Partho Das.
The music will be ready by mid-April and the shooting is expected to wind up by August-September. The release is planned in December.
Discussions are going on regarding the cast. To play the female lead, they are looking for an actress who is familiar to both the Bengali and South Indian audience, since they might bring out the movie in Malayalam as well. They have shortlisted a few names who are from Bengal but are acting in South Indian movies too.
Big Moment
It is for the first time that a Malayali composer is giving music for a Bengali film, though it has happened the other way before. And even more exciting for Pandit Ramesh Narayan is the fact that his guruji, Pandit Jasraj, will be singing for him. “It is an honour for me,” shared Ramesh Narayan. The other singers in the list are Hariharan, Shreya Ghosal, Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan, Amitaditya Sanyal, Aditya Narayan Banerjee (“it is a debut in singing for me, thanks to Rameshji”), and Ramesh Narayan himself.
“Amitaditya Sanyal will be singing Rabindra Sangeet which we have included as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore,” Ramesh Narayan said.
The movie will have five songs, with two of them melodies and the other two fast numbers, which is actually a first for Ramesh Narayan.
The basic tracks were recorded at Iris Digitals in Thiruvananthapuram with James Anose as the sound engineer and Ajai Thilak as the keyboard programmer.
“I am happy with the fact that both the director and producer are artistically rich and are good singers too. So, the result has come out so well,” Ramesh Narayan added. The recording will begin in Mumbai later this month.
athira@expressbuzz.com
