(From top) Ipsita and Sudipta shoot for Dibaratrir Galpo promos. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Ipsita Roy Chakraverti’s short story Sacred Evil was made into a film a few summers ago and her autobiography Beloved Witch is now the basis of the ETV Bangla mega serial Dibaratrir Galpo.

The plot of Dibaratrir Galpo, directed by Tathagata Banerjee, centres around a dispute between two aristocratic Bengali families, but the lead character (played by Sudipta Chakraborty) will be shown to be a follower of the western occult tradition of wicca who learns to develop her psychic power and uses it to counter the machinations of “her enemies”.

“The journey of Sudipta’s character parallels Ipsita’s personal journey as narrated in Beloved Witch. Sudipta would be shown adopting the wiccan way after reading and being inspired by the book,” said Rajarshi Dey, programming head, ETV Bangla.

Positioned as the brand ambassador for ETV Bangla’s esoteric programming, Ipsita feels her deglamorised presence in the show’s promotionals will help audiences in the suburbs see elderly women, who are often branded as witches, in a positive light. “I felt that the story of Dibaratrir Galpo would take to esoteric ideas very well. It has a women-oriented theme and it will show how the negative aspects of the esoteric can be countered,” said the wiccan high priestess, who will appear in interactive sessions to explain the unusual phenomena being shown in the serial.

Dibaratrir Galpo comes close on the heels of ETV Bangla’s Parapaar, which too was woven around Ipsita’s stories. “There’s a huge demand for the paranormal among the audience. The spate of films like Shaapit and Phoonk 2 proves that people are very interested in the unseen,” said Dey.

Dibaratrir Galpo airs at 10pm, Monday to Saturday.