What are your memories of directing Aparajita Tumi?
When I read the story, I wanted to tell the story because at that point I used to visit the US a lot and noticed a void there. I discussed it with Shoojit (Sircar). Before shooting, I, along with my producers Shoojit and Ronnie Lahiri, associate director Neha Rungta and our DoP Ranjan Palit, went to do a recce and that was fantastic. We went to Lake Tahoe, San Francisco and San Jose, and got lovely locations. Film-making doesn’t start from action and roll, it starts from the initial thought. So a lot of discovery, fun and introspection was involved. But there were a lot of challenges too. The whole cast and crew went there and for 18 days Padmapriya didn’t get a visa. At one point I thought that we would have to return. We were sitting at one of our friends Ranada’s house and suddenly received the news from Chennai that the visa had been granted to her!
Why did you choose the story?
There are a lot of factors. How, despite having a lovely wife, beautiful children and a lot of money, something happens and one gets attached to another person. Why does it happen? Rivalry between people for no reason, a certain fear. All these intrigued me. Interpersonal complex relationships always attract me and that is why I liked the story. I had told that to Sunilda (Gangopadhyay) too.
Prosenjit in the film
You have been exploring the nuances and dynamics of human relationships in films...
I want to do that. There are so many types of relationships. Relationships are not stagnant. It keeps changing its dynamics so one can keep discovering that... discovering and rediscovering, constructing and deconstructing.
How did you all spend the days when you were not shooting in the US?
We were shooting most of the days. We would be so tired that we would either take rest or visit a pub for adda. My wife Indrani cooked or any of our friends cooked and called us over. Even Shoojit cooked egg curry once. Basically, once you go for an outdoor shoot the unit becomes a family. We used to have script discussions and Ranjan Palit used to sing Dylan and Cohen songs post the discussions. Good work needs good time, good food, good association and good vibe! Everything was there.
How was it working with Bumbada (Prosenjit) for the first time?
He is one of the most disciplined human beings I have ever seen. Not only in films but also in life. It was fantastic. Morning, evening, night... he only thinks about work. He went into a kind of trance while doing this film. He is not really acting in this film. Nowadays, we call that non-acting... he was really ahead of time at that point. He was extremely subtle on screen.
How do you see the film after eight years?
This film is very close to me. During lockdown I used to get calls everyday from friends asking me about the film. Shantanu (Moitra) and Shreya (Ghoshal) had called. Shoojit called and said Bumbada has acted so well, let’s do something with the film. Kamalinee had asked so many times, Padmapriya, Chandan Roy Sanyal. Previously the Bengali diaspora was very scattered. Sending films was a scattered idea like even if it goes somewhere how many people will come. But now due to the OTT platforms, people across the world can watch Bangla films.
Let’s talk about the music of Aparajita Tumi...
Anindya and Chandril came to Bombay, and of course Shantanu is a dear friend. There were certain words that would come to me like tram, gangchil. Other things I saw in San Francisco. So I used to tell these few words to them and they used to pen it down and take the poetry to a different level. And Shantanu used to create the tune beforehand. This can only happen from a close relationship. It doesn’t happen just like that. We know each other and from there the whole process comes up. There is a song called Brishti biday. This song belongs to each of us. I like Aparajita Tumi’s songs better than Antaheen’s. In people’s lives fairy tales happen but it also ends.
Kamalinee
Even though the situations are melancholic there’s a happy vibe in the songs.
I want that in my films. Even if there’s melancholy and pathos there is a happy tune in that. I am a positive person. I want to take positivity from everything. Even sadness has a reason. From sadness also you can enrich yourself.
What started in Anuranan, moved to Antaheen and then it continues in Aparajita Tumi... it is the lyrical telling of a tale…
This is the way I make films. (smiles). A lot of people have told me that it looks like poetry on screen. But I don’t do this intentionally. That is me. This is the way I grow, see things and absorb things. That gets reflected in my work, maybe.
How did you go about the casting in the film?
I thought of Prosenjit Chatterjee while reading the story. I was attending the National Award ceremony and Padmapriya was sitting in front. I couldn’t even see her completely. I don’t know why, but I thought of her for the film. I told her about my film there itself. I watched a film by Shaji N. Karun and Kamalinee was there. I had seen a film of Lal (Suman Mukhopadhyay) and I wanted Chandan for this film. He is a very intense actor. Kalyanda too. While Shyamal Sengupta was writing the script, the actors came to mind. Sunilda loved the songs. A film is a collaborative effort.
Padmapriya
Padmapriya’s Bengali is flawless...
The credit goes to Sohag Sen and Indrani. Padmapriya used to stay at our house and speak with Indrani constantly. And the credit goes to Padmapriya of course. She is extremely hard-working. Both she and Kamalinee. I went to Palghat and spent four days with her. We used to have long conversations. She would come down to Bombay and Calcutta at times. One day we roamed around till 3am on the Calcutta streets giving adda. Film-making or any art form is not just about the technicalities. We became friends
Ushoshi’s character in the film doesn’t end like the way it ends in the novel.
Some people have certain unspoken things about them. They don’t express. It is there. It remains a mystery. Ushoshi was mystery to me. Kuhu was straight. One can understand Kuhu. But there’s an ambiguity about Ushoshi’s character. When I don’t understand a character or don’t want to understand, I leave it there. Stay as you want, I will stay as I want (smiles). That is also a relationship.
The ending of the film is so enigmatic...
There’s an empowering thing about the ending. The film ends with Kuhu reading the poem that was given to her by her former boyfriend. Everything stays within a person. We think that it is over between us but is it really over? This is my question. She really loves her husband but there’s a solace she finds while reading that letter again. Everything is circular. Pradip is there but she comes out to spend some time alone. And while sitting alone on a beach, she thinks of Yusuf for a while... there’s nothing wrong in that.
What are your favourite moments from the film?
I remember one instance where Pradip was sick and Kuhu came to know about the relationship between Pradip and Ushoshi. But the way she accepted and took care of him... I was shooting and my eyes became blurry. The moment was so pure. There was one moment where Ushoshi comes to talk to Kuhu and they make tea together and talk. It is a very poignant moment. A true moment of two women coming together. Life is not always about jealousy. People do make mistakes. But is it really wrong? That is the question. It is not always about right and wrong. As Rumi said, there is a field beyond right and wrong. There is grey also. It is a person’s mind. These are the things that really move me. I must mention Ranjan Palit’s camerawork. The way he captured the portrait of the actors and the mood. Rituparno Ghosh had called and said, “Tony this is your best film.” And we were probably speaking after seven-eight years. A film brings many people closer and also pushes away many people. It is life. There are lots of good memories. A film’s entire process is very enriching. It is a creation. One life comes and then we come out of it and we enter another life. For any artiste life is like that.
Aparajita Tumi is streaming on Zee5