Shoojit Sircar with daughters Ananya and Koyna on his front porch. Picture by Mayukh Sengupta

In the summer afternoons, if you have noticed a well-built, bearded man playing football in any of the parks in or around BL Block with boys, it is likely to be the maker of the National Award-winning Vicky Donor.

Shoojit Sircar has made Calcutta his home for a year and half now, with the aim of injecting Bengali culture and ethos in his daughters Koyna and Ananya. One studies in Class V and the other in Class I.

“I had always wanted to retire and settle here. But then I saw my daughters growing up without a trace of the Bengali in them. Yes, they would speak Bengali at home, but my wife and I would have to make the effort — like playing Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne on DVD. Children need pishi, mashi, dida for a proper childhood just as they need a park to play in. Life in Bombay is too cosmopolitan, without any of these benefits.”

It is not that Sircar has his roots firmly planted here. “My father was in the air force. My childhood was spent by the river Teesta, at the air force camp in Hasimara, north Bengal. I used to ride the trained elephants they had at the wildlife sanctuary.” The years between classes III and VII were spent in Ichhapore, with Sircar attending Barrackpore Central School. Then the family shifted to Delhi.

Sircar’s road to Bollywood lay through theatre and advertisement films. “I was Pradeep Sarkar’s assistant and even worked with Siddharth Basu on Quiz Time.” The shift to Mumbai happened in 2000-2001, with Sircar going on to make his directorial debut in Bollywood with Yahaan, shot in Kashmir and released in 2005.

When the Sircars decided to move to Calcutta, zeroing in on Salt Lake was easy. Wife Jhuma is a Salt Lake girl, his mother-in-law stays in BK Block and Sircar’s father had a property in BL Block. “Now I shuttle between Bombay and Calcutta on budget flights,” he says.

His next film Madras Cafe, a political thriller with John Abraham, releases in August. He is working locally too, having produced the film Aparajita Tumi and being all set to produce Anindya ‘Chandrabindoo’ Chattopadhyay’s upcoming film.

Other than his playmates, he still hasn’t made many acquaintances in the locality. Last month he was one of the residents to have been felicitated by the block association. “I got to meet some neighbours there. So much joy is felt in such little intimate events. That is what creates a healthy neighbourhood.”

Salt Lake has changed since his courtship period. “The Metro is being built and there is more traffic. Still, I love the buildings being of the same height, every block having a community centre and the Central Park. There might have been a few security lapses last year, still this place is among the best to live in.”

And he loves to go to the bazaars. “It is my addiction. I usually go to CK Market but my favourite is Baisakhi bazaar. I also go to Ultadanga and Hatibagan markets sometimes,” says the man who disapproves of the illegal plastic bags that vegetables are packed in.

His biggest passion is listening to the dhak. “I went to the Labony puja last year where they had a big group of dhakis playing. I get addicted to the sound,” says the man who goes to the Baghbazar ghat for brainstorming. Perhaps the Gujarat Tourism ad films, starring Amitabh Bachchan, also germinated there. “Their tourist footfall multiplied many times over after our campaign. I want to make such a film for my own state if only I knew whom to approach for that,” he shrugs.