The Zebras is a passion fruit that generated from a restless brain; hailing from a place like Calcutta and spending the last six years in the city, I have experienced a cumulative experience of ups and downs. Always inspired by the likeliness of Tarkovsky, Kieslowski, Ghatak and Mani Kaul, I was always at the defensive end whenever it came to seeking a producer. It was almost an uphill task when I had to opt to find the most suitable person who would invest in my bit of cinema without the slightest urge to commercialise it heavily. Finally, I met Akhil and Ashik in my favorite land in the deep South, that is, Kerala, and my dream project (one of my dream projects) started to materialise. The Zebras is indeed an important project since it talks about AI and its aftermath in today’s world; besides this, directing Sharib Hashmi indeed was icing on the cake.
The project paved its way while I was researching on the advent of artificial intelligence and how it was overpowering the basic path of mankind. Being a filmmaker, I had to be actively doing something on it and making a film was always (still is) the most direct way to influence the target groups. It was all about being responsible in the most convenient way possible; The Zebras is not a very tough film to comprehend. This is meant to be a very simple commentary on an issue which can be termed to be ‘alarming’. And being granted complete liberty, I must say that I gave my best in crafting this film.
The process began back last year when I visited Kerala and stayed there for over a month. I was meeting producers with another project of mine however things were slow and gradual. The evenings were mostly lackluster when I preferred staying at the lodge to going out. I opted to be more productive and embarked on this journey. It was nothing but a packet of loosely knit thoughts; then after coming back to Calcutta, I was taken aback by a number of personal incidents when I started introspecting the meaning of ‘peace’. Somehow, I concluded that all of us are chasing the apparent sources of peace which are nothing but pseudo sources. In order to become more powerful, we should not let others enslave us. And soon, the idea of The Zebras was born.
I met the producers Akhil Murali and Ashik Murali in Kerala and Praveen Menon, an eminent production controller, was the bridge between us. They instantly agreed to produce it and complete artistic liberty was granted.
The Zebras cast Sharib Hashmi, Priyanka Sarkar, Usha Banerjee, Sulagna Chakraborty and Ashok Kanjilal in pivotal roles. It’s one of a moment being able to direct such a good actor like Sharib. Sharib Bhai has been extremely supportive throughout the process and it’s always a treat working with him.
Priyanka Sarkar is one of those rare actors from Bengal (currently) who exhibits both, the eagerness to break down and a landscape of emotions. She always was my first choice for this kind of a role, where she is portraying a model’s character. Usha Banerjee was acclaimed for her characters in The Tale of a Santa and his Moth and Jharokh, recently.
Each of them had a distinct diabolic tint to their characters and I must say that justice was served. Let’s begin with Sharib Hashmi. He portrays an introverted character named Pawan wrapped under the layers of darkness and perversion. Sharib can be seen in a fresh avatar and is hard to either hate or love; it’s often hard to distinguish between love or hatred and Pawan will present something new to you. You will feel bad for him but at the same time, you will never be able to ignore the horrific attributes attached to his character.
Sharib has been performing quite well in the recent past and I needed to change his ‘good man’ image; although he has portrayed a diabolic character in Vikram Vedha, I was not truly satisfied with the way his character was treated. However, directing Sharib in the streets of Chinatown was not an easy task, I must say! He is a known face from Mumbai and it was damn tough to let him submerge into the layered corners of Chinatown, but he did quite well.
Working with Sharib was like directing your friend; he is someone who is open to suggestions and a person whom you can coordinate with at any hour. He gives his best and leaves everything up to the director; he is a director’s actor. He is not someone who would come and ask for a glimpse at the monitor. He leaves it entirely to the director.
He was well supported by Priyanka Sarkar and Usha Banerjee; directing Priyanka was a comfortable deed. She is someone who wants to stay grounded and interact with each and everyone on the team. In other words, she made us feel comfortable. She looked extremely calm and did her job quite well.
I would definitely like to work with her again in the near future and that is for two reasons — firstly, she works on the character very well and secondly, she makes herself a part of the team. Her spontaneity calms the whole team down and pushes everyone to give their best too.
Speaking of Usha Banerjee, this is our third collaboration; she was right there from the beginning of the ideation process. She portrays the character of a documentary photographer with clarity and finesse. She delivers a fine performance in this film.
Sulagna Chakraborty plays a dual character, that is, Sharib Hashmi’s wife and a photographer. She adds a fine line to her character which ranges from being submissive to being audacious. Layered and meticulous, her character has been justified very well with her performance. Besides, she also assisted me on the sets to grab a deeper sense of things behind the camera in order to act as per the requirements of the genesis of the film.
Although the actors were honest and cooperating, there were hurdles that we had to go through. And it was most hurtful when most of them had started brewing within the team itself. There were times when it was getting suffocating, and thanks to my producers who let me concentrate more on my piece of job. Else, it was never possible to complete the film.
And am I missing something? Oh yes, the art department! Led by NID alumnus Preeti Nag, the art department was the best part of this film. The team consisted of film enthusiasts Shubhro Roy and Souhardya Chatterjee. All three have performed a commendable task. They have created something unbelievable and beautiful.
Making a film is tiresome and hectic, but at the end of the day, you feel like you have knitted different individuals into a common family where everyone has similar focal points and gratifications. At last, I believe that I have been able to do so.
But, the shoot regime was amusing too; I have got a team who always cheers me up and the cinematographer Arijit Bose has done a brave job, both personally and professionally. He was there, right there with me enhancing my moods. However, I could not take my mind away from an interesting moment from the sets; we were shooting near a slum and we were hungry at the midnight hours; no one had any idea where to find the source of food and all of a sudden, a slum dweller (a middle-aged lady) prepared some hot aloo parathas so that we could feed ourselves. Wish we could be as warm as they were (or are).
Other than this, the shoot at Canning was interesting too but troublesome. A windy day and I had already bruised my arm. And then, all of a sudden (during the shoot day), we could hear the wind splashing onto our windows. We came out to witness a windy and stormy day where we actually needed fixed poles to hold on to. It was bizarre and tough to shoot that day, but once again our team was brave. We did not complain and I shot the scenes along with Arijit with a bruised body.
Chinatown was special too; Priyanka was dressed in an uncanny manner and this affected a lot of local residents too. People were actually afraid to have her roam around in the lonely streets dressed like a gothic monster. There was one incident when one child started crying and ran up to her mom; and interestingly, Priyanka was very much in the mood to continue her spree of behaving like the character.
Now connecting all these dots, I actually came to realise the fact that it is actually getting tougher to work in Calcutta. This is due to a lot of reasons and I would not like to disclose them either. Most of it was smooth if we leave away some trivial and momentary disputes. The output is something we should be proud of as a team, but the hurdles were worth considering too.
For most of the hurdles that we faced as a team, we were brave enough to confront them strongly and eradicate them. Most importantly, it was never so easy to shoot in Chinatown and the team had to be strong enough to provide extra layers of security to avoid any mishap.
