Tabu and Ghosh in the Dooars forests. Picture by Pabitra Das

The bad news: nature is playing tricks with Goutam Ghosh. When he is banking on the north Bengal mist to film a long sequence, it suddenly disappears. When he’s waiting for the sun to shoot a crucial scene with the three central characters, it refuses to make an appearance. The schedule for Abaar Aranye is naturally going haywire.

The good news: the stars are shining bright in the dark forests of Chalsa, near Malbazar, in the Dooars. There’s Tabu who has flown in from Chandigarh, Champa from Bangladesh, Soumitra Chatterjee, Subhendu Chatterjee, Samit Bhanja, Rupa Ganguly from Calcutta, and Sharmila Tagore, who’s now in London but will soon be joining the 50-member unit, as well. So, Aranyer Din Ratri revisited after 33 summers, is turning out to be an affair to remember.

Ghosh’s new film is a sequel to Satyajit Ray’s 1969 masterpiece, though many new characters have cropped up in the course of the comeback. Besides the four from the old cast, ‘Part-II’ introduces Tabu as Soumitra and Sharmila’s daughter, Saswato Chatterjee as Subhendu and Champa’s son, Rupa as Samit Bhanja’s wife, Rajatabho Dutta and Chaiti Ghoshal as a planter couple and Jishu Sengupta as Saswato’s friend. The setting for these “nights and days in the forest” has shifted from the Daltongunj forests to the Dooars, but the “feel” is similar.

Abaar Aranye sets the stage for the second generation to meet at the same place where their parents had got together and indulge in a “memory game”. “Through all this, certain characteristic revelations are made. And most importantly, time plays a vital role. It seems as if the jungle, too, has undergone a metamorphosis. There are more men in the jungle than animals,” laughs Ghosh, in trademark check-shirt, faded jeans and cap.

Murty’s Banani bungalow is the centre of all attraction. The tranquil cobbled banks of the gurgling Murty, skirting the forests, is where all the action is. The location is a two-hour drive from Siliguri where the unit has put up a makeshift camp. One of these evenings, there’s a little bit of drama in real life. Tabu (“she is slightly broad built, but suits the role to a T”, says her director) is applying finishing touches to her makeup and the crew is gearing up for a godhuli bela sequence, when a commotion breaks out. A crowd of around 2,000 local people has descended on the “star” bungalow, crying out the leading lady’s name, pleading for a darshan. When Tabu emerges, hysteria breaks loose. Some fall at her feet, others can’t stop wailing… The tall girl in grey T-shirt and blue jeans — who has recently turned “veg” — never loses her poise, giving them time and attention before moving on to her shot.

“Shabana aunty would recommend Bengali films so much that I have always been keen to do one,” smiles Tabu, who’s done Telugu, Tamil, Marathi and Punjabi, beyond Bollywood. “I think it’s important to be part of a film based on a Satyajit Ray sequel. My role in this film is an extension of what I am.”