San Banerje awed by Soumitra

���������������������������Soumitrada is the Ben Kingsley of India���������������������������
You are back in India and gearing up to make Bodhisattva. Why did you change the script of the film?
It���������������������������s mainly because of financial reasons. Earlier, the script had a huge canvas and was set in three continents. That was going to be very expensive.We later thought it prudent to stick to shooting in one city with a smaller setup of four-five characters. We wanted to make a character piece instead of a biopic. The earlier script was a biography on Bodhisattva that began from his early childhood. But here, we are using only one phase of Bodhisattva���������������������������s life so as to make it financially viable. Based on the Electra complex, Bodhisattva is about a Kolkata-based businessman whose estranged daughter, Maya, comes from the US and puts up with her friends, Avik and Anu. Though Maya refuses to stay with her father, she starts visiting him. As the story progresses, the situations change and Bodhisattva lands up psychologically imprisoning Maya. He steers her the way he wants to, making her do things that she does not want to do. I���������������������������ve just met Soumitrada and he has agreed to play Bodhisattva.
How differently would you cast Soumitra Chatterjee from what he has been playing recently?
I can���������������������������t really say if it would be better or worse than the roles he���������������������������s playing now. In my film, he plays a grey character, who controls his daughter���������������������������s mind. His character is that of a wealthy urban guy. Though we are not making him glamorous, his look will suggest his Western influence. No dhoti-kurtas for Soumitrada. We want to show him as a flamboyant man, who imports his Scotch and cigars. His look will be on the lines of Frank Langella in Starting Out in the Evening.
Do you think contemporary Kolkata directors have tapped the potential of an actor of Chatterjee���������������������������s stature?
The financiers here want to see a certain kind of product that can be sold. As a result, directors are unable to push the envelope or experiment with the medium. That���������������������������s why some directors play safe. In such a scenario, it becomes hard to tap an actor���������������������������s potential. If Soumitrada was working in America or Europe, he���������������������������d have had a wider range of roles to play with and his potential appropriately capitalized on. Look at Sir Ben Kingsley or Albert Finney who get to do different roles and find acceptance. Soumitrada too has similar calibre. Directors should put him in more flexible and challenging roles. He is the Ben Kingsley of India.
With an exposure to directing short films in the US, what more can you bring to the table while shooting in Kolkata?
Firstly, this will be a process film. Robert Rodriguez, Steven Soderbergh and Coppola���������������������������s recent works are all process films. Secondly, I���������������������������ve shot both features and shorts completely guerilla in different countries. Funds, crew, problems, cast ��������������������������� nothing���������������������������s been an impediment. Nothing can stop me from finishing a film. While I discover a new language, I hope to bring that independent spirit of cinema and unlimited experimentation with the craft while shooting the film. I���������������������������m sure I will succeed in breaking set rules and regulation of film school and make a film that I want to make. The film is a structured and improvised piece where there is a script, but I will let my actors make the choices as we shoot along.
Did Trisha Ray, being your wife, influence your casting decision?
Trisha is an actor before she became a film-maker. She has been doing stage for many years. She has also acted in many of my shorts and features before. So we are in tune with each others��������������������������� working style. I am a process guy and so is Trisha. I love anyone who loves the process and is in the business for the right reasons. That���������������������������s also the reason why I cast Soumitrada and Anasuya Sengupta. We are on the same page as artistes.
Are you making this film keeping any particular audience in mind?
n My film is for the independent film viewers and the festival audience. My
target audience is one which watches movies like GFE, Lonesome Jim, Looking for Kitty, where the camera or the budgets don���������������������������t matter. What matters is the story and the performance.
When do you begin shooting?
n We begin shooting from the third week of November.
priyanka.dasgupta@timesgroup.com