While mulling a sequel to Joy Goswami’s Saanjhbatir Roopakathara (picture left), film-maker Anjan Das has turned to yet another work by the poet. The verse novel Jara Brishtite Bhijechhilo is poised to be filmed with a cast comprising Roopa Ganguly, Indrani Halder and Mumbai-based theatre actor Joy Sengupta.

Goswami’s work traces the transition of a young man — a shy, footloose boy from the suburbs to a poet who finds a foothold in the urban milieu. “The verse novel is somewhat autobiographical in nature. The coming of age of the protagonist happens through a series of relationships. The neighbourhood girl he liked gets married. His second relationship begins with one of his readers, but soon he finds out that she is a nymphomaniac and is involved in same-sex relationships. Finally, the poet is reunited with his first love,” explains Das.

Joy is the poet. Indrani is to play his first love who walks out of an unhappy marriage. Ishwari Bhattacharya, a newcomer from Mumbai, is the other woman, and her partner in the lesbian relationship (a senior advertising professional) will be Roopa. “Joy is a wonderful stage actor and I liked his work in Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa,” says Das.

“I wanted to make Jara Brishtite Bhijechhilo my first film but felt it was a little difficult to tackle then... Joy’s work depends a lot on the rhythm of the poetry and I thought it would be gone if I translated it into film,” explains Das, who will use a lot of poetry in the script written by Dipannita Ghosh.

“In Sanjhbatir…, I had the help of visual elements in Joy’s work. But here I have to create the visuals. What charmed me about the novel is the strange relationship between nature, poetry and human being,” says the film-maker whose last work Faltu was based on a short story by Syed Mujtaba Siraj.

“We are using two long poems and several stanzas of three-four lines. These would be the cues to switching to a different episode. There would be three episodes — the story of the poet’s elder sister, the poet’s love affair, and his personal journey,” reveals Das.

The film is being produced by Rose Valley Corporation. Shooting begins in the first week of December and Das will return to Santiniketan — where he had also shot for Iti Srikanta and Faltu — for the early years of the protagonist.