The action in the Sharadindu Bandopadhyay story happens in the Ranchi-Giridih-Deoghar belt but director Anjan Dutt has chosen the Gorumara forests in Dooars to shoot his second Bomkesh Bakshi film.

A natural choice for Anjan, not just because it falls in his favourite Darjeeling district, but also since “shooting in Giridih and its adjoining areas would have been difficult because of political and Maoist problems. Most of the area has changed and locations aren’t as virgin as they still are here in Dooars,” he explains.

Almost 70 per cent of Abar Bomkesh is being canned around the foothills of Dooars... the river Murti, the Chalauni bungalow and the forest area form a scenic backdrop for the crime thriller set in the ’60s.

The story, based on Sharadindu’s Chitrachor, is about the mysterious disappearance of a photograph from the house of a rich, elderly man who lives with his only daughter in the hills, where Bomkesh and Ajit land up for a holiday and get involved in the mystery.

Dressed in dhuti-panjabi, thick glasses and sometimes a shawl (despite the blazing sun above), Abir ‘Bomkesh’ Chatterjee and his friend Saswata ‘Ajit’ Chatterjee are on the lookout for more than just clues to cracking a case.

Animal spotting in the wild is high on their list but none has got lucky so far. “The most we’ve seen till now are a bunch of monkeys that landed at the Camp. We tried driving around the forest reserve, too, but no luck,” rues Saswata.

The Bomkesh team is trundling down a meandering road fringed by rolling tea gardens and low hills in the distance, en route to Samsing Phari.

The fleet of cars stops near a bend and out steps a tall young man in a grey suit teamed with a black overcoat and black hat. That’s Bomkesh in disguise. Behind him is Ajit, dressed like a coolie in a red kurta, folded dhoti, turban and bushy moustache. Kunal Padhy, playing policeman Purandhar Pandey, has also donned a rustic look with dhoti, kurta and handlebar moustache. The confused characters are geared up “for a pre-climax scene”, says the director.

As the camera cranes up, Anjan hollers: “Action!”

The light blue vintage Mercedes-Benz is the car that Bomkesh in disguise has to borrow from a tea planter. “We got lucky with the car. Here we met a tea planter-cum-petrol pump owner who has a collection of very good cars. He lent us his grand old 1961 Mercedes-Benz!” says Anjan.

Cap, dark glasses and pipe in hand.... Chandan Sen plays a district magistrate and one of the suspects in the case.

“My character is a bit rough and highbrow; he doesn’t care whether Bomkesh is a good detective or not,” says Chandan, back on the sets after a hike uphill. “I had a day off, so I went to Rishabh to see the Kanchenjungha!”

It’s a crisp, sunny morning (on Day 2). Abir and Saswata are out in the fields, hiding behind the bushes at Jungle Camp. Bomkesh and Ajit are taking up a vantage position to spy on their suspects. Though it’s only 10am, the sun is strong enough to send the sleuth and his writer friend scurrying for cover. Under giant umbrellas, the duo take a large swig of water. “Who would have thought the sun could do this to us in the hills!” they laugh.

In the afternoon, Bomkesh, Ajit and Purandhar Pandey slip back into their disguises. The action shifts to Gorubathan, where a jagged stretch along the route to Lava takes a steep turn down banks and boulders to reach a quaint old bridge. “This is where the rivers Murti and Chhel meet. I chose this spot since it would make for a scenic backdrop and also because I wanted a period-looking bridge,” adds Anjan.

Jungle Camp, a sprawling 70-acre expanse with 26 mini cottages nestled between tea greens and sal trees, is where the 60-member Abar Bomkesh team retires after the day’s work. But Anjan wouldn’t let them off so easily. He has lined up a “Bomkesh Bakshi film festival” post-sundown every day!

So, after a quick wash, the actors and some crew members troop into the director’s cottage for a screening and discussion (read dissection). In Anjan’s kitty are classics old and new. So far the movie menu has featured Federico Fellini, Roman Polanski and Ang Lee. “Usually outdoors mean — after we’re done with the day’s shoot — we senior technicians move away to talk about the next day’s work, while the actors usually hang around and drink and that’s all. It’s not the ideal way to do an outdoor, so we thought it would be nice if we got together every evening and thought about cinema,” says the team captain. “After watching the movie, we talk about it. It’s a very productive exercise. You tend to carry that passion into your work the next day,” he adds.

The choice for this evening is Andrew Lau’s Infernal Affairs, which inspired Martin Scorsese to make The Departed. “How could a film, which is a copy of another, win an Oscar?” is the heated debate that spills well into midnight.

During shooting, lunch is a platter of rice, dal, potol curry, fish fry and eggs. Not good enough to please the foodie playing the sleuth. “We are just missing some good food. Yesterday we had some time off, so Apuda (Saswata) and I drove up to Kalimpong for some fried rice and chilli pork!” says Abir.

Indranil Mukherjee, the director of photography, has already proved a point — that he is as good with the ladle as with the camera — by rustling up some biryani and Mutton Keema for the cast and crew.

“This has been one of my most exciting outdoors. Because of all the activities, like chatting, cooking and post-movie discussions, some of us got to know each other a lot better,” signs off Anjan.