Congratulations on the box-office success of Uma, which is in its fourth week. How sweet is the scent of success?

It is very sweet…. What makes it even sweeter is the coming back of my core audience — who had got a bit disillusioned with me, some with Yeti Obhijaan and some with Zulfiqar —  and a good amount of critical acclaim. 

It’s great that you didn’t have a hospital scene involving Uma (Sara Sengupta)…

From Day One I was very clear that this is going to be a story about hope, love… I did not want to put a hospital scene just to manipulate death. I didn’t even talk about the disease. That is morbid curiosity. We all suffer from the same disease, which is mortality. That death is there is an inevitability and it doesn’t matter how the death comes. It is a question of when it is coming. It doesn’t matter what the terminal disease is. What is more important is the time which is left. 

And you didn’t want easy sympathy from the audience...

No. That would have been the easiest thing to do as a storyteller. 

But your obsession with death comes through in all your films. Does death scare you?

No it doesn’t, maybe because it is the greatest truth… and filmmking is about looking for the truth. Different films negotiate the truth in different ways. I try to find my own path of negotiation. Which is possibly why it comes back as a recurrent theme. There are a lot of questions about death that intrigues me. There are mornings when I wake up and feel very sad... I feel that when I pass on I won’t be able to see this beautiful world, eat the things I love eating, watch cricket or films or hear songs. I don’t even know what state I would be in. Will I become a ghost? Will I know that I am no more? Will I become an ectoplasm? Will I become a soul? Is there an afterlife? How will I exist? And I become sad because I don’t know this. Lack of knowledge depresses me. Then I try to seek answers and solve the dilemma and write stories that have death hovering somewhere. This is an active mental thing that happens to me. It is like a pet obsession. I cannot disassociate myself from that.

In the last couple of years, a large section of the youth have moved to watching content on the Internet. They watch films and web series on Netflix and Amazon. For new Bengali films...

The emphasis has shifted to the family audience. 

Do you then write keeping the family audience in mind, the elderly audience who are filling the theatres and watching Bengali films?

No, no, I don’t do that. See, there’s an emotional side to me. There’s a ‘U’ side to me also. I just finished writing a violent thriller and that won’t get a ‘U’ certificate. Or take the case of a film like Rajkahini which had adult content... it was tearing me apart and I had to tell it. I will write whatever I want to write and whichever aspect of me I want to express. After writing, then the question of audience comes in.  Then I’ll sit with my producer and strategise the release date. The decision variable is not the writing. The decision variable is the release date.

I am always true to my stories. If I have an ‘A’ film I will release it during the Pujas. Since the volume goes up almost five times, the loss in the number of people because of the certificate is more than made up by the increase in volume. So what is my objective? To tell my stories to as many people as I can. But that doesn’t mean I will compromise on the kind of stories I want to say or the way I want to say it. That remains same. But the time of the year I am going to tell that story will change. I have around four films lined up in 2019. Among them, the films will get ‘U’, ‘UA’ and ‘A’ certificates. I will spread the releases across the year in such a way that I can maximise the amount of people I can tell my story to.

If you had to write 22shey Srabon now, would you write it in the same way?

Absolutely. And possibly release it during the Pujas, and possibly premiere it on Amazon or Netflix, not on satellite. Because when we released 22shey... on satellite it got so many beeps that it sounded more like Morse code. I want to retain its original flavour. 

Was Srabanti’s character a bit underwritten?

Yes, it was on purpose… motherhood is a different equation altogether. It is a different avenue, and if I had to walk down that avenue I would have had to write many more scenes. If I got into that, then it would have merited a different film. Which is why I kept it at a subplot level. My emphasis was on two fathers (played by Jisshu Sengupta and Anjan Dutt).  

You often end your films with a song. Why?

It is like summing up a narrative. That has to be musical. I feel life is but a never-ending song. Sometimes it is a song of agony and sometimes it is a requiem. Music is an integral part of me and my existence. The film ends on a spirit of celebration, of life even if it is in the face of death. It ends on a note of hope. 

What’s your take on the cameos you have had in your films?!

It started with Autograph. The junior artiste didn’t arrive on time. So I had to step in. After Autograph and 22shey Srabon, the cameos became a recurring theme. I have fun with it, but make sure it is a cameo. Nothing more than that. With Uma, it was different. I wanted to play a cameo but ended up playing an important character. This was not by design. It was not feasible for one actor to go to Switzerland for one scene, so I stepped in.  

The film wraps up with Srabanti writing a letter from Switzerland. She is with Uma and Himadri (Jisshu). But we know Srabanti didn’t go to Switzerland. Where did you take that shot?

(Laughs out loud) In Salt Lake. Ki obhimaan korechhilo Srabanti. She was like, ‘I’m there in the last scene but not in Switzerland.’

Did you think of casting Nilanjanaa for Uma’s mother’s role (which was played by Sayantika)?

Yes. She told me to get lost (laughs). She said, ‘Please, I won’t leave someone like Himadri for your character.’ 

Do you think of competition?

It is healthy, as long as there are no snide attempts to sabotage. It pushes me harder to make a better film. 

Is the nature of competition tougher?

Yeah, which is great for the Bengali industry. There are a number of interesting makers now. 

What did you tell Anjan Dutt before the scene that has him asking Jisshu’s Himadri for one chance?

I didn’t tell him anything. I just told him, ‘Anjanda, the stage is yours’. It is a textbook in acting... voice modulation and body language.