Payel and Soham in Prem Aamar

Neither Singapore nor Malaysia, director Raj Chakraborty has booked air tickets for Ladakh to shoot two dream song sequences in the lap of the Himalayas for his third film Prem Aamar.

Why Ladakh? “Because no Bengali film has ever been shot in Ladakh. As these are dream sequences, we wanted more visual variety. So I wanted to try a different terrain to offer something fresh. But people shouldn’t be under the impression that just because we are shooting within India our budget is low. In fact, the Ladakh shoot will cost us more than what we usually spend for foreign shoots,” said Raj, who has already shot a major part of the film in Siliguri and Calcutta.

“We haven’t done a recce yet, so I will fly to Ladakh two days ahead of my team to decide on the locations,” added the maker of Chirodini... Tumi Je Aamar and Challenge.

Produced by Shree Venkatesh Films, Prem Aamar stars Payel Sarkar (I Love You and Cross Connection) opposite Soham, whose debut film Bajimaat almost went unnoticed.

Prem Aamar is about Rabi (Soham), a colony boy who can’t talk without using expletives, and Ria (Payel), a sophisticated mechanical engineer who hates Rabi’s roguish ways. “Rabi falls for Ria but doesn’t know how to woo a girl. The rest of the film is about how the girl turns a rogue into a sophisticated, compassionate person,” said Raj.