Walk down memory lane

Catch me if you can : Prateik steps out to change his outfit after filming a scene inside the bungalow

While walking around in the hustle and bustle of the busy S.V Road area, the tranquility surrounding Lata Kunj bungalow, in the bylanes of Andheri (East) comes as a refreshing change. The old, dilapidated bungalow was chosen as the first day shoot location for Sourav Chakraborthy’s (erstwhile associate director to Ashutosh Gowariker) Bengali directorial debut, Aroni Taukhon (Tryst With Destiny in English). The film is a mature love story, which also explores religious intricacies through the backdrop of the Hindu – Muslim riots of the early 90s and the Godhra riots of 2002, and how the lives of common people gets affected.
Although it was the first day on the sets for the entire cast, including Prateik, Paoli Dam and Indraneil Sengupta, they had already begun to bond well and were seen interacting in a fun mood during lunch time. “I am just hanging around today because my part of the shoot begins tomorrow,” quipped Dam, whose character’s journey in the film begins as a Muslim girl named Runa Reza from Mumbai. How Runa becomes Aroni forms the major crux of the plot. The first shot began inside the bungalow, which was turned into a modest middle-class home of Mumbai in the 90s. Enter the supposed living area and you are welcomed with old, worn out curtains hanging on the windows. What made the set up really interesting were the intricate details like old wooden chairs, radio systems, colourful flower wall hangings among other things that made the room look like straight out of a typical 90s home decor. In the first few shots, Sengupta was seen filming a scene where he is asked by his on-screen sister to introduce his lady love Runa to the family. “The girl is a Muslim and I play Sumanto, a simple middle-class Bengali guy. I’ll be shooting for 13 days in all for this film, which will include a schedule each in Gujarat and Kolkata,” says Sengupta.
Minutes after shooting his portions, Prateik, who makes his Bengali film debut with the project, came out of a dark room on the first floor to interact with the media and that too, shirtless. It was evident that the actor couldn’t bear the ever-rising temperature, which was at its peak around 1 pm. While sipping on water and posing for the shutterbugs, an assistant from the costume team helps him choose the right outfit for the next scene, where he has to look suave. The actor wears a pair of spectacles and is given a pair of denims and white T-shirt for the next shot. While getting ready in his vanity van, Prateik says he is quite kicked about his Bengali debut. “The script is very challenging and my character goes through various transitions in this film. He is the catalyst in this film. Extremely obnoxious, cruel and spoilt, he plays the son of a rich politician. He has grown up seeing corruption and manipulations all around him. He continues to be that way, till he falls in love with his professor. That’s when my character goes through a phase of self realisation,” said Prateik. The actor also confessed that since his mother, late Smita Patil, had done a lot of work in regional cinema, he was also keen on doing something similar.
The cast and crew completed the Mumbai schedule last week and will start shooting in the Rann of Kutch by June end. “The Kolkata schedule will kick off by July second week. We should be able to wrap up the film by July end and once the post-production work is comfortably done, we can release the film around Durga Puja in October,” stated Chakraborthy.

priya.adivarekar@expressindia.com