Indranil Ghosh

After designing the sets of innumerable Tolly films, art director and filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh’s younger brother Indranil Ghosh has decided to heed his second calling — film direction.

Indranil will soon don the director’s hat for his debut film, Shironam, starring Paoli Dam, Abir Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee, Arindam Sil and Arunima Ghosh, among others.

“Of course, hammering nails is what excites me most,” laughs Indranil, who won a National Award for his set direction in Chokher Bali. “But I developed an interest in filmmaking and wanted to direct a film, sooner or later. Arindam (Sil, executive producer) came forward as a producer and I can finally give shape to my dream,” smiled Indranil, whose wife Dipanwita has penned the script.

“My film is inspired by present incidents. Today, the electronic media has a huge presence everywhere and rules our lives to a great extent,” he explains.

Paoli plays an architect in the film. “She is married to Abir, who plays a photo-journalist. Saswata is a reporter. Saswata and Abir go on a secret mission but it gets exposed and how that impacts their lives is what Shironam is all about. There are other characters too — Ritwick Chakraborty, Rajesh Sharma, Kamalika Banerjee, Soma Chakraborty and Dhruv Mukherjee have important roles in the film,” he adds.

Indranil will also be the art director and costume designer for the film. Apart from the cast, Indranil has also got his backstage hands ready. Director Atanu Ghosh (Takhan Teish) will be the editor while Mumbai-based Vivek Shah, who shot Rituparno’s Bariwali, is the cinematographer. Debojyoti Mishra will score the music.

But will Rituparno be involved in his film? “No. But he will definitely come to watch the film during its premiere,” says Indranil, who is very confident about his cast and believes they can take the script to another level. “Paoli, Abir and Saswata are very competent actors and they suit their characters in the film to the T.”

Produced by Utopia Films’ Santanu Adak, Shironam goes on the floors in mid-December.

Abir	Paoli	Saswata