RAIMA WITH PARAMBRATA

The writer and the recluse: Parambrata Chattopadhyay is Rahul, a writer by profession, and Raima Sen is Gouri, who lives alone in a bungalow in the hills. Arindam Dey’s second film Chhaya Manush (his debut was the Paoli Dam-Rahul starrer Ajob Prem Ebong) is a psychological thriller revolving around two young people who meet, fall in love and bid goodbye.

“The gist of the story may sound like a simple love story but Chhaya Manush has a lot of twists and turns. A lot of it is actually Rahul’s hallucination and most of the incidents that occur in the film are unreal... I shot a major chunk in north Bengal’s Takdah and Lamahatta (near Ghoom in Darjeeling) which are completely virgin locations and nobody has shot there before,” said Arindam who will shoot the rest in Calcutta from January. “The plot required me to shoot in less-populated places and green valleys and we got what we wanted at these locations,” he added.

For Raima, pairing up with Parambrata once again, after Hawa Badal (directed by Parambrata), was fun. “Chhaya Manush is the sixth film where Param and I play a couple. We like working together because we are very comfortable in each other’s company,” said Raima.

Just before Chhaya Manush, Raima was camping in Kalimpong for Kaushik Ganguly’s C/O Sir. “The hills are my permanent residence now! This year I have spent the maximum time shooting in the hills but I’m not complaining because the weather is good and we had loads of fun shooting,” she smiled.

“I am happy that I got such an understanding cast. It was so cold in both Takdah and Lamahatta and we had to arrange for a fire nearby to shoot the outdoor sequences. We shot there for nine days last month,” said Arindam.

Chhaya Manush is produced by Pratigya Media.

Text: Kushali Nag