Something about Ribhu Dasgupta reminds you of the lead character of his film, TE3N. Like John Biswas, the role played by Amitabh Bachchan, Dasgupta is quietly tenacious. Biswas waited for nearly eight years before he managed to zero in on his grandchild's kidnapper. Dasgupta waited for years before he saw his film being released in theatres.

When Dasgupta's debut film Michael, produced by Anurag Kashyap, did not have a commercial release in India, despite being all ready in 2011, many had written him off. But he marked his directorial presence with a bang last month with TE3N. His phone hasn't stopped ringing since then.

Praise has come in from Bollywood, too. Director Shoojit Sircar, whom Dasgupta showed the film before its release, tweeted that it was an "exceptionally engaging" thriller with "terrific" performances. He said: "Ribhu just loved the way you captured Kolkata..."

"I am humbled and overjoyed," says the 31-year-old director, sitting in his small office in Mumbai's suburbs.

Dasgupta, in a white tee and blue jeans, doesn't speak much. He is also a restless man - he strokes his scraggly beard and shuffles on the edge of his seat. His fingers move constantly - sometimes interlocking, occasionally resting under his chin, and once in a while on the table in front. I noticed two rings on his fingers, sporting gems astrologers recommend for a better life.

"Oh, I have been forced to wear these by my mother and wife and I don't argue with the women in my life," he chuckles, sounding a bit sheepish.

Dasgupta comes from a family of filmmakers. His father is Raja Dasgupta, maker of a great many films. His brother, Birsa, is a successful director in Tollywood. His mother, Chaitali, an actor, was one of the first announcer-cum-anchors on Bengali Doordarshan. His grandfather was the filmmaker Harisadhan Dasgupta, whose beautiful wife, Sonali, left Calcutta for Rome in 1957 with the Italian director, Roberto Rossellini.

Surrounded by filmmakers, one would assume that film direction as a career option came naturally to him. "Actually, not," he replies. "Any average middle-class Bengali boy wants to be either a cricketer or a footballer. I, too, always wanted to be a cricketer and was good at the game. But destiny had something else in store for me," he smiles.

Dasgupta - Bilbo to family and friends - was 18 when he left for Mumbai to help Birsa, who was working for Kashyap's film Black Friday. "That's how I got to know Anurag and subsequently started working with him," says Dasgupta, who assisted Kashyap in films such as Gulal.

Birsa returned to Calcutta, but his younger brother wanted to direct Hindi films and stayed back in Mumbai. "I have no plans right now of making a Bengali movie, though a lot is happening in regional cinema. I hardly visit Calcutta," he says.

After Michael, Dasgupta was asked by Kashyap to direct the star-studded series Yudh (2014), Bachchan's first fictional show for television. "It was at the same time that I met Sujoy Ghosh, who was also working on a script for Bachchan. It was while discussing that script with Sir that we also spoke of TE3N and Sir insisted that we first shoot for TE3N," he says.

How did it feel as a new filmmaker to direct three superstars - Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui?

"They are all superstars, but fortunately they don't come with star baggage. They are humble, normal people who are extremely good at their work. I treated them like characters on a set. When I direct I keep the fan boy inside me under cover. Of course, it comes out once in a while, but that's how it is," he stresses.

Dasgupta is all praise for Bachchan. "He is a gem of a person with enormous dedication," he says. He recalls occasions when they returned to their hotel after a day of shooting, and he'd get a call from him in the middle of the night. "He would have been thinking about a particular shot and then call up to ask: Did I do justice to the scene? Should I do it again? He makes you relook at things. His biggest quality is that he can take the load off a director."

Bachchan, Balan and Calcutta have become a recurring motif - the former starred in Piku, which was about an elderly Bengali man, and Balan was the heroine of Kahaani, which had Calcutta as the backdrop. The films were directed by two of Bollywood's top directors - the first by Sircar, and the second by Sujoy Ghosh, who was also the creative producer of TE3N.

There was speculation that Ghosh, being a director, would want his directorial say in the film. "Sujoy was fully successful in reining in the director in him, though that's extremely difficult," Dasgupta replies. "But from day one, we had maintained that any differences, whether creative or related to the script, would be settled right here in office, before we began the shoot," he elaborates.

If the film has drawn cinemagoers in large numbers, the name TE3N has sparked speculation. (The name brings to mind the Hollywood suspense film Se7en, about a serial killer.) Some say the name TE3N is derived from the fact that there are three main actors; others say it spans three different periods in time. "People can have their own speculations and that way the charm of the movie remains intact," he says.

Unlike many directors who go to theatres to watch their films to gauge public reactions, Dasgupta has stayed away from the screenings. "After I finish my films, it's over for me, I don't think about them. A little bit of detachment is important for a filmmaker," he stresses.

That explains his philosophical attitude towards Michael, a thriller starring Naseeruddin Shah. "I made the film but beyond that I couldn't do much. Unfortunately, it didn't get released. I hope it gets released some day. Each film has its fate, I guess," he says. How does he accept this with such calm resignation? "Even if I sulk, nothing will happen," he retorts.

When he is not working, Dasgupta likes to play cricket with the neighbourhood children. "I also love to cook at home. Apart from that, I like to spend time with director friends Sujoy, Shoojit and Anurag, since that enriches me professionally," says Dasgupta, who is married to cinematographer Barun Mukherjee's daughter Indrayanee. He is a doting father to Adi, 3, and one-and-a-half-year-old Ahana.

What after Te3N? The grapevine has it that he is planning a film with Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor. "Nothing of that sort is on the cards right now, though I would love to work with them."

How is he going to ensure that he doesn't remain a one-film wonder? "I guess, you are as good as your last work. With each movie you grow and each Friday brings new lessons. So I have to keep growing from strength to strength," he states.