Jisshu and Nilanjanaa (picture above) switch from real to reel life for the first time on the big screen for Mainak Bhaumik’s Aamra, billed as the first sex comedy in Bengali.

“We’ve done a couple of telefilms together but it was a great feeling to work with my wife in a feature film for the first time,” smiles Jisshu Sengupta who plays Amit, an aspiring film-maker trapped in the mesh of mundane soaps and serials.

Mainak, 26, based in New York makes his debut as a director with Aamra. Written by him, the story is woven around the idiosyncrasies and love lives of six characters who hit the crossroads at one point and connect in different ways.

“Aamra is a circular tale including a middle-aged professor who is married to a young theatre-enthusiast but indulges in a secret affair with his student, Sunny. Sunny dates a wannabe Bengali rock star (Parambrata) whose ex-girlfriend hooks up on a blind date with Amit on a chat site. Amit meets the professor’s wife, Bhasha, during the audition of an Ibsen play, which he is planning to direct. They are a bunch of confused, anxious, compassionate and adorable characters,” says Mainak who has directed two documentaries and also edited Anjan Dutt’s The Bong Connection.

The urbane tale deals with the changing attitude of GenX towards love and sex. “It is more of a verbal sexual comedy, more about telling than showing,” explains Mainak.

“The film explores the Calcutta scenario with a realistic representation of the life and manners of the youth of today,” adds Nitesh Sharma of Bangla Talkies, producer of Aamra who aims to woo the youth back to the halls for a Bengali film. The 90-minute film has a song by Bangla band Insomnia and another by Shayon Chowdhury of Bangla, a Bangladeshi band.

Apart from Jishhu, Nilanjanaa and Parambrata, the cast includes Ananya Chatterjee, Pallavi Chatterjee, Rudraneil Ghosh, Rajatabha Dutta, Kaushik Ghosh and newcomer Momo.

The cast and crew of Aamra is planning roadshows and campus visits to make the city’s youth aware of a film about them. There will also be a special screening of the movie at St Xavier’s College on Wednesday at 2 pm.