Ananya Chatterjee with Soumitra Chatterjee in Dwando

In the line of fire over the making of Dwando, Suman Ghosh presents his case to t2...

Dwando has a striking similarity with Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Decalogue II...

I referred to the Ten Commandments as the basic story for Dwando, which is the same as Decalogue II. But I’ve totally changed it to suit my interpretation and the ending is also different.... A lot of films have been adapted before. (Rituparno Ghosh’s) Unishe April was an interpretation of Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata or Govind Nihalani’s Drishti was adapted from Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage.... Dwando’s treatment and characterisation is completely different (from Decalogue II). It was a new rendition of the Decalogue.

Then why didn’t you acknowledge the Decalogue in the credits?

In the closing credits, I have acknowledged that the core story is inspired by the Ten Commandments, hinting that it is taken from Kieslowski’s Decalogue series. Maybe I should have been more clear about mentioning which particular part of the Decalogue series I was referring to but I had forgotten which one.

Why has the conflict within Ananya Chatterjee’s character and the issues with her husband not been explored...

I experimented with the screenplay, which often jumps back and forth in time and space. I cut out some flirtatious conversations between Ananya and Samrat (Chakrabarti) because I wanted to hide the fact that there was something developing between them. There are references to Ananya’s problems with her husband during her talks with the doctor (Soumitra Chatterjee). Koushik’s (Sen) dialogues throw light on his small-town mentality as opposed to the urban Ananya. What triggers the clashes between them or Ananya’s friendship with Samrat is not clear but it has been deliberately kept so. I like to draw sketches and want my audiences to get involved and draw their own inferences.

Certain scenes seem unnecessarily long and irrelevant, like the party scene or the ones to portray Soumitra’s greatness as a doctor...

I wanted to stitch conversations with songs while bringing out the dynamics of Ananya, Koushik and Samrat’s characters. The couple that flirts and then makes out in a separate room or guests taking turns to sing are strands I introduced as my modus operandi to blend some merry-making with the core elements of the story. The drama develops towards the end of the Teri surat song. Koushik gets a headache seeing Ananya and Samrat come close. It marks the beginning of his insecurity as well as his brain tumour. Also, I needed to establish Soumitra Chatterjee’s character with a backstory to focus on the facet which is only exposed in the last scene.

Did the film not need better editing and camerawork?

I think the cinematography was excellent. The way we planned the camera movements had more to do with establishing Ananya’s dilemma. More than resorting to hand-held camera jerks, we wanted to create a feeling as if the camera is resting on Ananya’s chest and she’s heaving along with it. This goes on till Ananya goes to Soumitra’s house in the rain, after which it switches to a very classical camera treatment.

The editing is commensurate with the camera. I wanted to establish a hackneyed narrative and push an unconventional manner of scripting. People react when things don’t conform to preconceived notions.

Why is Ananya allowed to speak English with an

American accent?

Ananya’s character works in a software company and those who work in such companies often travel to the US. The accents they pick up during their short stay remain. It’s apparently a bit jarring but it’s not necessary to establish every detail.

Samrat Chakrabarti’s character is very sketchy...

I didn’t want his character’s physical presence at first. I just wanted to offer a glimpse of him and then build it up later. Had I dwelt on Samrat and Ananya’s relationship, it would have been a give-away.

Isn’t Ananya questioning her husband’s ability in bed a cliche and Samrat inviting Ananya to bed on their first meeting too abrupt?

Koushik’s character instigates Ananya so much that she loses it and says what she says. Similarly, Samrat’s proposal hints at a developing relationship that reaches a climax when Ananya also makes a move. I guess these situations and dialogues do happen when you slip over well-defined boundaries.

What’s your next move?

I plan to take Dwando to the Berlin Film Festival in February.

Soumitra Chatterjee on Dwando

I haven’t seen Decalogue II and so I won’t be able to comment whether Dwando is adapted from it or not. But it could have been inspired by it. For example, both MS Sathyu’s Hindi film Garam Hawa and Nemai Ghosh’s Bengali film Chhinnamul were based on the Partition and had similar characters as well as dialogues, but they were two independent films.... I feel Dwando is a welcome change from the usual Tollywood films. But instead of being welcomed, too many charges are being levelled against it. Yes, a few portions in the film are a bit prolonged. For instance, when Sudipta is sitting alone at home and pondering over her dilemma.... But then these are mistakes that can be overlooked. The kind of camerawork Barun Mukherjee has done for Dwando is scarcely found in Bengali films. Acting-wise, Dwando may not have the best performances one has seen in Bengali cinema but everyone put in what was necessary for his or her role.