Rahul Bose with child artiste Pratyay Basu and Churni Ganguly in Laptop

Kaushik Ganguly has pushed back Nirbashito — the film inspired by writer Taslima Nasreen and her feline companion Minu — to the summer of 2012. The actor-director is now busy planning Shabdo, which he starts shooting in December.

A t2 chat...

Why did you have to put Nirbashito on hold?

Nirbashito is a relationship story around a mother and child, only here the child is Taslima’s pet cat Minu. Taslima had read the script and given me the go-ahead. I was supposed to shoot a portion of the film in Sweden in December but that’s quite impossible as you get only two-three hours of daylight there during that time. So, I decided to make the film next summer. But since I had promised my producer (Gautam Kundu of Brand Value Communications) to do a film for them, I showed them the script of Shabdo. They loved it and now I am hunting for my main cast.

But have you met Taslima’s Minu?

Yes, when I went to meet Taslima a month back and spent a day with her in her high-security apartment in Delhi. Her drawing room is full of books. We spoke at length about Calcutta and that’s when I realised how much she misses Calcutta. We scarcely talked about Nirbashito.... After a grand lunch of maachher jhol-bhaat, I was resting when Minu crawled up to my pillow and dozed off. Taslima came over, looked at Minu and said, ‘Kirey Minu, ekhaneo casting couch!’

What is Shabdo all about?

Well, it’s about a Foley artiste named Tarok and his relationship with sound. Foley artistes reproduce the everyday sounds in films. For instance, the sound of footsteps or utensils or the cycle bell. These artistes quietly do their work at night. Nobody knows about them. The idea came to me one night when I was watching Laptop (Kaushik’s upcoming release), where I play a visually challenged novelist who has a tremendous sense of sound. I was stunned to see how the Foley artiste had created the sounds of, say, water leaking from a tap. That has really enhanced the film 10 times. That’s when I thought, why not do a film on them? National Award-winning sound engineer Anup Mukhopadhyay is also a huge inspiration for this script.... I had done the Foley sound for my films Waaris and Shunyo-E-Buke. Shabdo is definitely going to be a dark film.

You were thinking of casting Rudranil Ghosh in the lead in Shabdo. Is it final?

Well, Rudra is a very prominent face in the industry. He is a very strong actor. I want someone who doesn’t have that kind of an image. I had even thought of Kanchan (Mallick). But I need someone younger. I don’t want a newcomer because I neither have the time nor the energy to groom him. I would like to cast Ritwick (Chakraborty).... I have got my crew ready. Shirsha Ray will do the camera, Mayukh Bhaumik will score the music and Jojo-Potla will do the sound. We start shooting in December.

Calcutta apart, where else will you shoot for Shabdo?

There’s a waterfall in north Sikkim, a very risky area, where I intend to shoot a part of the film.

What’s the status of Laptop, which is also ready for release?

Laptop was screened in the Indian Panorama at IFFI (International Film Festival of India) in Goa recently. The film will also be screened at a few other festivals before its release in February next year.