Simply Kolkata catches up with director Shiboprosad Mukherjee on the Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta starrer Praktan.
Simply Kolkata catches up with director Shiboprosad Mukherjee on the Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta starrer Praktan.
Q. Your last film Bela Seshewas a family drama that drew audiences from across communities and even non-Bengali speaking households. How has the audience received Praktan?
A.This time we are getting feedback spanning generations. From 11:45a.m. shows to the 9:50 p.m. ones, most are running to capacity in cineplexes. I guess everyone has that one 'ex' or that 'one who got away'. Strangely, the film relates to everyones-from children in the tenth standard to the married and elderly or even that hip couple from Bangalore.
Q. What was it like directing Rituparna and Prosenjit after 14 years?
A.My co-director, Nandita Roy had written the script in 2003 which is when they weren't working together. We are grateful that they agreed to work together with us again. When we started off, we didn't have an occasion to work with them before although we did work with Rituparna in Bela Seshe.
Q. There have even been comparisons to films that have exes, or scenes with trains like in Ijaazat.
A.I think that's the nature of every movie goer. You can't make a film on a courtesan without comparing it to Umrao Jaanor Pakeezah even if you make it on someone like Gauhar Jaan. I don't think there's any similarity between Praktan and Ijaazat. We were inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's short story Hothat Dekha. In fact, what happened later was that novelist Suchitra Bhattacharya's Ekti Kothopokothonstory written in 2008 had striking similarities to our script. But she's a lovely person and an understanding writer and we even acquired rights to her story.
Q. Do you think Kolkata itself played a character in the film?
A.We were inspired a lot by Iftekar Ahsan and Riwtik Ghosh of Calcutta Walks. In fact Prosenjit, whose character conducts heritage walks, spent a lot of time observing them. The idea was to show their passion and how they are keeping the city alive. There have been lovely things about the city that we didn't know before. I was particularly struck by the pathos of the lost letters that all end up in Central Telegraph building. Not many people know about Kolkata's Black hole or have heard the poignant strains of St John's church's organ.