(Clockwise from top left) Rakhee shoots at a north Calcutta residence; Rakhee, Bidita and child artiste Mohor shoot the Ganga arati scene at Bagbazar Ghat; Bidita all dressed up in palash for the Holi sequence; Samadarshi waits for his cue; Rakhee chats with DoP Avik Mukhopadhyay and director Gautam Halder. Pictures by Aranya Sen

The day after Holi, the Mukti team had a blast playing with colours on the sets. Bidita Bag and Samadarshi, who are husband and wife in the film directed by Gautam Halder, made the most of the opportunity. “I was decked up with palash phool! But it was fun because I didn’t get to play Holi this year,” said Bidita. “I was a little nervous shooting opposite Rakhee Gulzar. But she told me to just look into her eyes and things would fall into place. So now I do just that,” smiles the model-turned-actress.

In Mukti, Rakhee plays the widow Bijolibala. “We did a Ganga arati scene before Holi to show what happens when religion takes a back seat and humanity come to the fore. Rakhee, who plays a staunch Brahmin widow, takes the ailing son of a Muslim woman, Hasi (Bidita), to a masjid and then to the arati,” said Halder. “Rakheedi is much more relaxed this time. She often chats with the team in between shots,” he added.