(From top) Lalan’s akhra in north Bengal for Goutam Ghose’s Moner Manush and a set in Agarpara for Mani Ratnam’s Raavan (Aranya Sen). Mithun with Shweta Prasad in Chanda’s directorial debut Ek Nadir Galpo

He is the man Mani Ratnam, Shyam Benegal and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra turn to when they need a north Indian village in Maharashtra or a Bombay of the 1950s. Despite his Bollywood star clientele, Samir Chanda finds time to take up the odd Tollywood film. Like Goutam Ghose’s Moner Manush. t2 caught Chanda in action on the film’s sets in north Bengal last month...

Why did you take up Moner Manush?

I am doing it because the script is beautiful and because the relationship I share with Goutam is the same as the one I have with Vishal (Bhardwaj), Mani (Ratnam) or Rakeysh (Mehra). I like to work with people who understand our work and do not see us as glorified carpenters!

Besides, I was excited at the prospect of visiting Bangladesh where we will shoot on a set built near the river Padma. I was born in Comilla, so shooting there might give me an opportunity to visit my birthplace. We will also shoot in Kushtia district, which is Lalan’s birthplace.

Is designing Lalan’s akhra a refreshing change after Mani Ratnam’s Raavan?

Yes, this is like a paid holiday for me! I am doing a period piece after Iti Srikanta.... Moner Manush is a sweet project after Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, where the sets alone cost Rs 6 crore. I miss Bombay’s speed but we must adapt to the industry we work in. The budget makes a huge difference. Here we’ve to make do with Rs 3-4 lakh, whereas in Bombay we talk in crores. But then a project like Moner Manush gives me a different kind of kick as a production designer... the kind of kick I get from working with Shyam Benegal. I have never cribbed about my remuneration. Will anyone believe now that when I worked in Subhash Ghai’s Saudagar, my pay was just Rs 1 lakh!

What’s the most challenging part of doing Moner Manush?

Here in the Chilapata forests, the most difficult part was getting the right props more than building the set. For instance, we had a tough time finding a sarinda, a musical instrument used by Bauls which is now extinct. The second was the architecture of Lalan’s time. There’s very little material available, so a lot of it was from imagination. We built Lalan’s akhra bit by bit, with mud houses and thatched roofs. But I must add that finding the right spot was difficult too. This area is deep inside the forest and is a grazing ground for elephants. We chose it as we had the Bania river close by and the position is such that sunlight streams in from all angles all day. It took us five days to build the sets. Oh, and a day extra because the elephants flattened everything on the first day!

What about Raavan?

Raavan takes you from a town to a jungle to a village and then back into the deep jungle. We shot on real locations but it was very difficult for me to arrange the props to show the dense forest and the place where Adivasis live. It was also very challenging because nothing would deter us during our shoot... we shot in the scorching heat as well as in the rains.

Why is your directorial debut Ek Nadir Galpo lying in the cans?

Well, because instead of buying a flat in Bombay I invested my money in a film and that too a Bengali film! Ek Nadir Galpo, which has Mithun (Chakraborty) in the lead, has been appreciated at major festivals, like IFFI Goa where it was screened in the competitive section. It was also screened at festivals in Dubai, South Korea and Stuttgart. But it’s tough to find a distributor in Bengal, which is very strange! Yogita boudi, Mithunda’s wife, has seen the film. She called me in the middle of the night to say how much she wept after watching it.

Mithun told t2 that his performance in Ek Nadir Galpo might win him another National Award. What is his role?

Mithunda plays an ageing post master, who also practises homoeopathy. He is very attached to his only daughter, played by Shweta Prasad. They share a special bond. I am not showing the mother or what has happened to her. Only once does the daughter ask her father about her mother, which makes him very sad. The girl also bonds with a river and later, when she dies, her father fights the system to rechristen the river in his daughter’s name.

Samir Chanda

Is it an art film?

I don’t know which category my film should belong to. There are no fight sequences in my film, neither do any of the characters sing or dance all of a sudden. But then it’s a very sleek film with beautiful landscapes (shot by Rajen Kothari). Ek Nadir Galpo is like a painting. I don’t know if Bengal has ever been depicted so beautifully in any film. It’s a good film with a strong content.... Sitting in Mumbai, I really don’t understand the equation in Bengal. The total budget of my film is Rs 1.1 crore. I have sold the satellite and video rights, but whenever I try to release it in Bengal I am asked to cough up another Rs 10 lakh for print and publicity. My calculations show that if I release the film according to the conditions set by the distributors, I will receive only 20 per cent of the total budget! But maybe some day my frustration will get the better of me and I will release it on my own in maybe two theatres.

What’s next for you?

I am doing Sonali Basu’s Masterda. I have just finished Shyam Benegal’s Well Done Abba. I don’t do more than three films a year. Besides, I am reading a lot of scripts. I might direct another film soon, but this time it will be in Hindi!