Anik Datta on the sets with the Bhooter Bhobishyot cast

The motley bunch of ghosts in Anik Datta’s Bhooter Bhobishyot is making so much noise that both multiplexes and stand-alone theatres have upped the number of shows from this Friday.

Bhooter Bhobishyot released on March 16 in 29 halls, including plexes, with a total of 45 shows. Nandan, Priya and Star theatre had one show each in the first week. “In Week 4, Priya and Nandan increased two shows and the film re-released at Navina and Padmasree (Garia). There are two primetime shows in Fame Hiland Park and Fame South City too. We were down to 14 halls in the second week but now we’ve got 27 halls back. Business-wise, I don’t think we’ve lost much because the film actually picked up from the second and the third weeks through word-of-mouth publicity,” says producer Joy Ganguly.

But until word travelled about its high fun quotient, Bhooter Bhobishyot almost had empty theatres. “The first week was depressing; we didn’t have a single show at Fame South City because of logistical problems. Nothing was in my hands and I had no expectations. I was very open. But the film picked up over the weekend. People started posting on Facebook, I started getting messages on phone. It was all a little unreal....” laughs Anik. “I feel relieved now. The crowd pressure was such that the halls had to add more shows,” says the ad filmmaker, who has turned the tables on naysayers with his rib-tickling script riding on a strong cast.

The journey of the young filmmaker (Parambrata Chattopadhyay) in Bhooter Bhobishyot who decides to make a film on ghosts after his spooky encounter mirrors Anik’s personal battle to get his gang of ghosts on board.

“It took me 20 years to make my first feature film. Even my assistants made films. I went through a lot of hurdles to make Bhooter Bhobishyot with an ensemble cast and then there was the added pressure to finish the shooting in 25 days flat,” he says. “I chopped off a major chunk of the film because it’s a comedy and people said comedy should be short and crisp (the duration of the film is two hours). But people are going back to the theatres for a second time because they missed a few one-liners the first time! I want to publish the script of the film now,” he adds.

For producer Joy, the box-office collections couldn’t have been better. “We made the film on a budget of around Rs 1 crore and we expect the film to gross about Rs 1.5 crore in Week 4, which is quite a lot!” he smiles, tasting success five summers after The Bong Connection. “Going by the way Bhooter Bhobishyot is doing, it might turn out to be a bigger hit than Bong Connection!” he says.

The debutant director, meanwhile, has moved on to his second feature, based on Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s story Ascharjyo Pradip. “I will borrow the basic idea from the Shirshendu story, but I’m also toying with a lot of other ideas,” he says.

Kushali Nag,What did you love about Bhooter Bhobishyot? Tell t2@abp.in

Parambrata-Mumtaz and Anjan Das at the launch of Life in Zero. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

Life Cycle

After a nomadic woman’s tale of love and revenge (Bedeni), Anjan Das has turned to an urban relationship story for his next film Life in Zero. His only worry is his main man Parambrata Chattopadhyay. “I am worried about Param’s dates… I think even Param is worried,” said Anjan, at the launch of the film in The Park’s Aqua on Saturday. The Kahaani effect? “No, it is not Kahaani. Juggling dates started long before Kahaani released. I think it’s because of all the films I have been doing since 22shey Srabon,” smiled Parambrata, who will play Neel, an engineer, in Life in Zero.

“Neel is a dedicated worker but one day he feels that in the process of making dams, he is destroying his creative side and he starts resenting it. He is under pressure in office and wants to quit. He asks for his wife’s support which she can’t give... she is a corporate high-flier.... They try to make their marriage work even as they drift apart,” said Anjan.

So, how similar are Parambrata and Neel? “In some matters, I am a little conscientious. I do get affected by whatever is going on around me. There is like a collection of personalities within us. That is the reason why I connect with Neel,” said Parambrata.

Playing Parambrata’s better half in this “drama with an element of a thriller” is Mumtaz Sorcar. “A big similarity between my character Kuhu and me is that I am also a very career-minded girl. But I am having goosebumps because there are several liplock and love-making scenes with Param. I hope we need fewer takes for those scenes!” smiled P.C. Sorcar Junior’s youngest daughter.

Conceptualised by Bhaskar Ghosh, CEO, Hot Rain Events, and scripted by Padmanava Dasgupta, Life in Zero also features Kunal Padhy and Bobby Chakraborty. Neel Dutt is composing the soundtrack.

Saionee Chakraborty