Arindam Sil and Supriya Chowdhury in Tapanbabu; (below) Roopa Ganguly and Kunal Mitra in Tarpor Bhalobasha

Do too many hands really spoil the broth? Not always. Ek Mutho Chhobi (A Fistful of Films), where six directors have teamed up to make one feature film, is rather a gourmet?s delight.

The six films of roughly 20-minute duration each add up to quite a collage of urban reality. An ambitious affluent couple to a teashop girl with dreams in her eyes, a doctor giving in to temptation to an actress crippled at the peak of her career, two sisters vying with each other to a middle-class clerk unhappy with his life ? familiar characters faced with a moral choice. While some give in to their vices, others come out stronger.

But the film touches a chord with poignant story-telling and a twist in the tale served up at the end.

?It was Anjan?s (Dutt) idea that six directors come together to make a film on the shara ripu. So, we would have long brainstorming sessions at my place or Anjan?s or Roopa?s. Since there were six themes ? lust, anger, greed, infatuation, ego, jealousy ? we decided to have a lottery to decide who would work on what,? says executive producer Arindam Sil.

Janmadin, the first to roll, is directed by Arghyakamal Mitra with Sreelekha Mitra and Rajatava Dutta in the lead. This is about an upwardly-mobile husband and wife willing to make a compromise for a better life.

Partha Sen?s Pakshiraj shows Arunima Ghosh as a para chawali who dreams of making it big one day. When her rickshawwallah admirer snatches her hard-earned money, the girl smashes his skull in a fit of rage.

In Tarpor Bhalobasha, Anjan Dutt zooms in on the mind of an actress (Roopa Ganguly), her ego clashes with her husband (Kunal Mitra), her sense of betrayal and insecurity.

Prabhat Roy?s Ragunbabur Goppo focuses on a short-tempered clerk (Biplab Chatterjee) who abuses his wife (Indrani Halder) and son at the slightest pretext.

Kaushik Ganguly?s Progress Report follows the strained relation between two teenaged cousins (Samata Das and Monami Ghosh) in a joint family and the different value systems they believe in.

But if one was to pick a favourite from the six-in-one format, it would be Indranil Roychowdhury?s Tapanbabu, about a nondescript doctor (Arindam Sil) who snuffs out the life of his rich elderly patient (Supriya Chowdhury) in order to strike gold.

?Ek Mutho Chhobi captures the vastness of Calcutta, from people on the fast-track to middle-class sentiments to the life of a rickshawwallah. The project was aimed for celluloid from the start and the films were shot on 35 mm. We needed at least six different locations and so the costs went up which finally could be pegged at around Rs 43 lakh,? says producer Roopa, who arranged for the finances and even chipped in when the project got stuck.

Ek Mutho Chhobi is currently running at Nandan I.

Reshmi Sengupta