With three stories and an ensemble cast, Suman Mukhopadhyay (picture left) has done a reality check on urban existence in Mahanagar@ Kolkata, which releases on June 4 before travelling to the Munich Film Festival later that month.

A t2 chat...

What inspired you to make a film combining three stories?

The three stories by Nabarun Bhattacharya — Ek Tukro Nyloner Dori, Amar Kono Bhoy Nei Toh and Angshik Chandragrahan — are interrelated. They were set in different time frames but somehow I tried to make a connection because I am trying to make a film on contemporary Calcutta where the city is the protagonist, not the characters.

It’s about the Calcutta that is located on the fringes where people don’t have the metropolitan outlook and there’s a conflict between the old and the contemporary value systems. The other is metropolitan Calcutta and there’s a contradiction there too. As Calcuttans we carry the baggage of having been the country’s cultural and colonial capital. Calcutta is different from other metropolitan cities. It is still struggling with industrialisation. It has very specific contradictions which I wanted to portray... also its vulnerability, fear and hopes. But that doesn’t make M@K a dark film. It’s a black comedy. It’s Life in a... Metro meets Love Sex Aur Dhoka!

How are the stories related?

What connects the three stories is the sense of vulnerability. But it is not as if one story ends and the other starts. The characters appear in more than one story. A character who’s in the foreground in one story is in the background in another. But people can relate to them.

Chandan Roy Sanyal in the nude scene

How have you kept them interconnected yet separate?

I have used music. Rupam’s songs are actually a commentary on the story, they bind the stories together. The songs are urban and have that edginess. They talk about the pain of everyday living, our disappointments and also our hopes.

Then there are cinematographic demarcations through the use of colour, which is different for each story created by (cinematographer) Indranil Mukherjee. Ek Tukro Nyloner Dori is set at night, so we have used dark colours. Amar Kono Bhoy Nei Toh has drab houses and is mostly shot in grey shades. The third story has multi-storeyed buildings and fashionable drawing rooms.

There’s a large ensemble cast. Who plays what in the film?

Anjan Dutt, Biplab Chatterjee, Arun Mukhopadhyay (Suman’s father) and Rituparna Sengupta feature in the first story. Arun Mukhopadhyay features in the second story too. Chandan Roy Sanyal, Sreelekha Mitra and Rituparna appear in the third story.

In the first story, Biplabda plays a father whose son is admitted in a hospital. Anjanda, a civic official, comes to meet a relative who is admitted in the same hospital. There’s an interplay of the real and the surreal. The second story is about a man (Arun) who lives in a state of fear psychosis... an irrational fear that gets him. The third is about an incompatible couple (Chandan-Rituparna). Sreelekha plays Chandan’s girlfriend.

Why did you cast Chandan as Rituparna’s husband?

Chandan was fabulous in Kaminey and I wanted a fresh face, a versatile, energetic actor in this role. Chandan had all these qualities.

What about the other actors?

I chose Sreelekha when she was only doing sister-in-law roles on TV. Sreelekha is a very strong actress and I made her look very different in the film. And only Rituparna could fit into the character of Rongili because she has that range... she can look good in a simple salwar kameez and also slip into a sari and look like a housewife. Arunbabu is a National Award-winning actor and he has played his role with great elan. Anjanda was Mrinal Sen’s middle-class hero at one point. The way he carries himself is something I have always liked, so I carried his urban middle-class alienation image into my film. There is a certain weirdness in Biplabda’s face which was needed for his role.

Rituparna and Sreelekha in a surreal moment

Why the nude scene featuring Chandan?

Look, a lot of things are related with that scene. It’s set during a lunar eclipse and there’s a belief that if you donate anything to people at that time, your sins are forgiven. Then there’s a political layering... the Nandigram issue is on TV. So there’s a conflict in his life and there’s a conflict in society too. Then, he starts hallucinating.

Nudity has been used where he is alone and he wants to break free of his present situation. He is trying out different modes to get out of his frustration regarding issues with his wife (Rituparna). He is drinking, dancing in the nude and singing himself hoarse. And then he hallucinates. The scene is a kind of montage of an uncertain mind. Chandan was very good in it. He never asked any questions. He told me ‘I will do whatever is required for the film’.

Did the censor board object to the nudity?

The censor board has given an ‘A’ certificate without any cuts.... I didn’t want to underline nudity because my film is not about male nudity. Here it comes as one brush stroke. It’s nothing major.... With M@K I want to communicate with young people more because the issues dealt with should be watched by today’s generation.