The feedback for the teaser of Saptaswa Basu’s film Jotugriho, which dropped on Sunday, has been “overwhelmingly positive”. “Be it Facebook comments, messages, tweets or reviews from YouTubers, all have given thumbs up to the teaser. Everyone has been appreciating the look and feel of the film (starring Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Payel Sarkar, Bonny and Piyali Chatterjee), the moods of the characters in the way I have presented them and the sound design. Many have watched it multiple times and sent their praises to our whole team,” smiles Saptaswa Basu. A candid chat....
Saptaswa Basu
Sourced by the correspondentHow important were the locations to create the mood for the story?
The location, costume design, art and props design... everything needed to be blended in a colour palette to create this ambience. We shot in remote villages of north Bengal where basic food and water become luxury at times. We explored a lot of regions there and tried to find locales or bungalows that will give the creeps even when standing before them. So the locations played the most important part in creating the fictional town of Nishadgunj. The hilly terrain blended with wooden structures covered in fog, creating a sense of gloom all around. I wanted to avoid sunlight in the major portion of the shoot and tried to use the overcast weather during our schedule. Luckily the weather favoured our work and we shifted from one zone in Kalimpong to Pedong to Takdah and towards Kurseong as well. Passed through mountains, valleys, small towns and forests.
How did you zero in on the locations?
We needed to do time-consuming pre-production to create the fictional town of Nishadgunj. I must appreciate the faith of our producer, Raktim Chatterjee, who planned a movie on this scale to create something groundbreaking. The DoP Manas Ganguly and art director Ananda Adhya were the two key brains behind the creation of the town. We developed sketches, tried to extend real locations with partial sets, modified wall texture and light scheme to set a look for both the interior and exterior scenes. We were desperately searching for a solitary bungalow amidst a forest and we mainly zeroed in on the locations keeping it as a primary zone for the film. We scouted across various regions. Thankfully, the local line production team is very skilled and helped us find what we were looking for, including key set-ups such as a church, a hotel and a bungalow close to a forest.
We needed to find out ways to present a look that is different.
What did you keep in mind while editing the teaser?
While creating the teaser, editor Pabitra Jana, story writer Arnab Bhaumik and myself had a common goal, which is to present a first look of the film and using silence in parts as a theme. There is no dialogue used in the teaser but each key character has been shown in their space while interacting with an unknown force. The primary goal was to create a sense of mystery and not just fast-paced cuts of shots to raise excitement using gimmick or common jumpscares. It’s natural everyone would start comparing the teaser with existing Hindi horror films or the famous Holly flicks such as The Conjuring series or so on. There is always a tendency of viewers to try to find similarities, so we took it as a primary goal to create a look and feel that will stand out as original and won’t give away the story one bit.
What did you want to convey through the teaser?
The teaser is meant to convey that something dark and mysterious is lurking in the shadows of Nishadgunj. The characters have many shades and no one is safe. The use of rhyme of the children is meant to bring out the horror hidden behind something which apparently looks innocent. We can create a social horror film of international standard, that was our aim to convey. We shot with Sony Venice cameras, and maybe this is the first Bengali film shot on this camera, so bringing out the footage with proper grading in front of the viewers was a source of great excitement for all of us.
How was the shooting experience?
The experience of the outdoor shoot has been adventurous and pleasant. The most thrilling part was to trek through the upward slopes inside the forest, where no roads are even there and finding absolutely mesmerising locations to take a shot. We set up make-up stations inside the forest without any electricity or furniture. It was a tough schedule for the artistes and crew as toxic bugs and leeches were in abundance in those forests. So safety measures needed to be taken while doing so. We faced heavy rainfall amidst those situations and the to-and-fro from the hotel to forest was hectic. The area was very peaceful and the local people helped as well. We did action/ stunt scenes with Judo Ramu at the edge of a cliff, which felt scary even doing it with wire cables. Bonny injured his arm while doing such a scene but the output turned out to be good. It was definitely a learning experience for me as well while experimenting with new styles and shot designs.
How did you conceive the look for Param?
Right from the story discussion session, we had an important character of a middle-aged Father of the local church. This character needed someone with very subtle expressions and skills to carry out a crucial segment of the film on his shoulder. We did a look test and the very first moment he appeared in front of the camera with the aged look, we knew we have got our priest. He plays a respected character in Nishadgunj who seems to know about the unknown past of the town and helps Bonny’s character in his quest. Therefore the look and body language of this character have to stand out and Paramda played it beautifully.
Did he give inputs as well?
Parambratada is a very sharp actor and an intelligent person. Being a writer-director himself, he got involved right from the story development part. He definitely put in a lot of inputs and improvisations which helped to bring out the priest character very well. We discussed interesting shots, long takes or visual designs to bring out a unique flavour in the narrative. So his inputs and co-operation were always there and I am looking forward to working with him on some of my future projects too.
