Actor-director-producer Parambrata Chattopadhyay directed veterans Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt in upcoming Bengali film Ei Raat Tomar Amaar. Ahead of the film's January 31 release, Parambrata goes candid with IBNS correspondent Souvik Ghosh on the film, the stalwarts and reveals his planning to make a thriller next...

Q. What brought you to the idea of an old romance?

A. I have always been fascinated with older people. I seriously feel I should have taken birth earlier than when I have. Having lost both my parents quite young, I haven't had the chance to witness them ageing or growing old unlike most people who get to see it.

I was in Mumbai on work. A young boy came and met me and said he had a script which was just about an old couple who were completing 50 years of their marriage. I found it interesting and gave it a read. It's not the same script that I have actually adapted in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar because he is not from Bengal. Also the couple in his script fits a different cultural milieu, which is obviously distinct from the one Bengalis have. So I have adapted that to this cultural milieu. The germ of the story came from there.

I was quite fascinated by the idea because of the emotional turn that it takes by the end of it. I had actually started fantasizing about what would have happened if my parents were still alive and they were completing 50 years of their marriage. I had started imagining them and I adapted the screenplay a bit to suit my vision of how my parents would have been if they were still alive and completing the 50th year of their marriage. I found it a very exciting idea to make a film on two such people.

Q. How did you arrive at the casting?

A. The film wouldn't have happened if these two people hadn't agreed to do it. It was always the two of them. We couldn't find any other substitute for them. We were very sure that it had to be these two people and nobody else. Luckily they agreed and we could actually make the film, which wouldn't have happened if they hadn't given the nod.

Anjan Dutt with Aparna Sen | Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS

Q. How did you strike a balance between your imagination of old romance and the normal idea of it?

A. A part of it was in the script and a large part of it came from my experience of watching old couples among my relatives. These old couples whom I knew personally fascinate me for their idiosyncrasies, clumsiness along with something that makes them tick, work. I often wonder what it is. There is some kind of a glue that makes them work despite all challenges. So I think a part of it came from the original script and the rest from my experience of very closely observing old couples.

Q. Do you contemplate about how your old age romance might be?

A. I made this film when I was married for just three months. A lot of things which I was getting acquainted with after marriage have found their way into this film. I have lived with someone (ex-girlfriend) for a very long time but living with someone and getting married and living with the person is still little different. So I was acquiring these experiences absolutely fresh and just coming to know about them. I think I have taken it back subconsciously a lot of the things that I have seen these two people doing while enacting the two characters in the film. I will be behaving the same way if we (Parambrata and his wife Piya Chakraborty) are lucky enough to be alive for the next 25 years.

Q. How was the experience of handling the two giants professionally?

A. Both of them have remained professional actors for a very long time. So when it comes to practicing their craft, they are relentlessly professional. Both are opinionated and that works for me because I myself am an opinionated person so I can get along with other opinionated people. I like the fact that their opinions are strong. Although I would like to say that Anjan-da was incredibly obedient and that was probably because both of us have known each other for the last 25 years almost now and our relationship is more like an uncle and his nephew or father-son at times. He gave it his all in this film which is the second project I directed him. Sometimes I was even annoyed at him but he was totally fine with all kinds of criticisms.

Rina-di (Aparna Sen), as she is, remained very invested in the process of making this film. She definitely has had opinions not just in terms of her performance but also the craft of the film. Most of the time we agreed but we had our difference of opinions as well. It was a very clear relationship so there were no hiccups whatsoever as far as that is concerned. The fact that both these people lived their lives in cinema and they carry themselves as diligent, cinema workers rather than stars helps me and gives me a lot of confidence, assurance and enjoyment of the whole process.

Q. How do you adjust as a filmmaker while directing a Gen Z like Surangana Bandyopadhyay and a veteran like Aparna Sen?

A. It requires mental adjustment because it depends on who the Gen Z person or the veteran is. If this was any other older person who would not be as alert and active as Rina-di or Anjan-da, the experiences would have been different. Similarly, I have directed a lot of Gen Z people but Surangana, for example, is somebody who is exactly as invested in the process and excited about the craft of filmmaking as Anjan-da or Rina-di. A lot of other Gen Z people probably are not as invested as Surangana in the process. So it really depends on the people whom I am directing and not broadly on the generalisation that somebody is a boomer or Gen Z. It varies from person to person. It's very subjective.

Parambrata Chattopadhyay | Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS

Q. Do like-minded people help you as a director or is it just another aspect?

A. It certainly does help. But it also can make me get a little carried away because it's so enjoyable being on set that I might become less alert which is something that should never happen. So I need to keep myself under a bit of a reality check.

Q. How would you describe yourself as a director now?

A. I am a bit like a kid in a toy shop. I have always wanted to make movies more than acting. I have been fairly clear about it. I have enjoyed acting and I still do. Acting is my bread and butter and I have earned a lot of adulation and recognition from people. But there is absolutely no qualm in accepting the fact that making films is what I always wanted to do. Now that I am getting to make it a little more frequently than before, it is a matter of conscious choice that I have sort of shifted my focus towards direction. Also I have to get the opportunities right. It's a combination of these two factors. I want to explore all genres that I can. Horror and drama are my favourite genres. But I am planning a thriller next.

Q. How do you see Ei Raat Tomar Amaar adding value to your filmography as a director?

A. By virtue of the fact that pretty early in my career as a director, I have gotten the opportunity to direct two of the stalwarts of not just Bengali but Indian cinema. That's the biggest value addition that this film is going to make to my trajectory as a filmmaker.

(Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)