Koel and Tota: Rush hour

For a change of pace and taste, Sandip Ray has taken up a psychological thriller as his next assignment after Tintorettor Jishu.

Hitlist (working title) is based on an unpublished story Sandip had written a few years ago and so, he insists on keeping the plot under wraps for a little longer.

“I find many people are using the term ‘psychological thriller’ when they don’t want to divulge their story, but mine is really a psychological thriller!” laughs Sandip.

“There’s crime and detection, but not the Feluda type.... I am inspired by the Film Noir of Forties and Fifties. And one such film has served as just the springboard for Hitlist. The central idea is mine. It’s set entirely in the Calcutta context. Most of the characters are negative but they have several layers,” he adds.

Hitlist — the director likes the catchy title which seems to have caught on — is also one of the rare films where Sandip will be working with actresses — Koel Mullick, Sudipta Chakraborty and Mithu Chakraborty!

The buzz was that Hitlist would bring Sandip and Prosenjit together but the plan has fallen through.

“Hitlist is an ensemble film with equal screen time for all the characters and Prosenjit wanted more stress on his character. He decided not to do it and I am glad that we frankly discussed the matter. If he had done it without really wanting to do it, it wouldn’t have turned out well,” says the maker of three Feluda films.

Prosenjit’s part has gone to Tota Roy Chowdhury. The rest of the cast — the three women apart — are Saheb Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chaterji, Saswata Chatterjee, Siddhartha Chatterjee, Dipankar De, Subhrajit Datta and Tinnu Anand.

“There is no lead character as such but the story revolves around Koel’s character (a housewife who later starts working in an advertising agency). Koel has a very, very important role, a tough role. It won’t be singing and dancing for her,” says Sandip.

The reason why he chose Koel is both professional and personal. “There is an innocence in Koel’s face which you don’t get in many others. I think she has got a good range (of acting) and I have heard she is easy to work with, which is very important in a film like this. But I am very confident that Koel will do well, especially because I give a lot of freedom to the actors,” he explains.

“Besides, I have seen Koel growing up as Ranjitda (Mullick) has worked with Baba (Satyajit Ray). And I had gone to her first day’s shoot for her first film Nater Guru too. She had invited us all,” laughs Sandip, who starts shooting today.

The climax will be canned in Kuala Lumpur with Koel, Sudipta, Tota and Dhritiman. Innovative Multimedia is producing Hitlist.