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Come Friday, and Ribhu Dasgupta — Birsa ‘033’ Dasgupta’s younger brother — will start shooting his directorial debut Michael in Calcutta with Naseeruddin Shah, Mahie Gill, Sabyasachi Chakraborty and Purav Bhandare (who acted in Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan).
Anurag Kashyap, whom Ribhu has assisted in Mumbai for the past five years, is the film’s creative producer. Ribhu’s bonus: a cameo by Anurag!
Michael is a thriller woven around a Calcutta-based Catholic family of a father and son. “Naseer Sir plays Michael, an ex-cop trying to make a fortune for his son. Purav plays the son and Mahie his love interest. Benuda (Sabyasachi) plays Michael’s landlord; it’s a very important role. Twenty-five per cent of the film is in Bengali and the rest is in Hindi,” said Ribhu, busy “locking locations” in the city. “I decided to shoot the film in Calcutta during the monsoon as it matches the tone of my film. Michael is about the dark, dingy Calcutta with crumbling old British structures,” he added.
But getting Naseeruddin on board wasn’t an easy task, and that’s where Anurag bailed him out. “You know how difficult it is to make your first film and that too in Hindi with actors like Naseeruddin Shah in the lead. I have to mention that Michael is finally taking shape because of Anurag. He has helped me a lot, from giving necessary inputs for the script to making Naseer Sir say ‘yes’ to the project. I have also coaxed Anurag into doing a cameo!” said Ribhu.
Mumbai-based Cat Mouse, along with Anurag Kashyap Films, is producing Michael. Ribhu has written the story, while Debaloy Bhattacharya has penned the script and Neel Guha the dialogues. Somak Mukhopadhyay, of Challenge fame, is steering the camera.
“There are a couple of background tracks, scored by Vinayak Netke and Atul Soni. We will shoot the entire film across Calcutta,” added Ribhu.
