On OTT platforms we are either fed bloodbath or terror – Ram Kamal Mukherjee

After the fast movie Cakewalk with Esha Deol, journalist-turned-filmmaker Ram Kamal Mukherjee appears to be pursuing his ardour for direction with renewed confidence. His forty seven-minute Hindi function, Season’s Greetings, a tribute to late filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, is the toast of film fairs. Hinging on a delicate mom-daughter courting, it played at the nuances that make life poetic and poignant. He has many more movies coming up – the bilingual Rickshawala, a Hindi quick primarily based on his quick tale Long Island Iced Tea Broken Frame, Shubho Bijoya, a Hindi characteristic for the digital platform and the biopic Binodinii, based on the well-known seventeenth century theatre actress Binodini Dasi. Moving from writing testimonies to telling memories… Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s display has just got wider…

What made you’re making a movie like Season’s Greetings?

After making my debut movie Cakewalk (Esha Deol plays a married chef inside the brief, which depicts the personal and professional journey of a modern-day Indian female), I wanted to make a film that offers with a mother-daughter courting. So, I determined to make Season’s Greetings. On OTT systems, we’re often fed massacre and terror. Barely can we get to see any dating that’s poetic. Either we’re displaying sex or we’re showing sex at the side of the mystery. Most structures are relying on sexuality express scenes or speak to draw audiences. With Season’s Greetings, we attempted to convey again the target market with communicate like, “Bas ek karwat ki doori thi…” or “Yeh Guru Dutt wala pyar hai Sex And the City wale nahin samjhenge!” Even the lovemaking scene between Celina Jaitly and Azhar Khan is shot aesthetically. Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sanjay Leela Bhansali are the filmmakers, who introduced lower back the magic of romance on display screen.

Tell us about how you obtain the cast of Season’s Greetings together.

It wasn’t a cakewalk. I had locked Paoli Dam as daughter and was looking for someone to play the function of her mom. I approached many main girls from the industry. But all and sundry had cold ft due to the character’s graph. Finally, I met Lillette Dubey in Dubai at an event. She gave me 5 minutes to narrate the story, while she turned into looking forward to her cab at the lobby. She become intrigued by the person of the mother, Suchitra. She comes from theatre historical past and enjoys experimenting with characters. But by the time we locked her, I lost my dates with Paoli. That’s when I approached Celina Jaitly, who I met in Dubai at some stage in the identical experience. She had lost her father and a baby. She become going via acute depression. When I narrated the story, she began crying. She should straight away hook up with the character of the daughter Romita. I knew that it became divine intervention. Then I struggled to cast a person for the position of Chapala, a transgender house-assist, who remains with Suchitra in her house. My producer Aritra Das brought me to Shree Ghatak, a transgender. I took her audition and then did rigorous workshops earlier than finalising her for the function. Finally, I became looking for Usmaan, Romita’s live-in boyfriend. The search ended with Azhar Khan. When I noticed him taking walks in the room, I knew he turned into my Usmaan. Usmaan is virtually the binding thread of the plot.

A pleasant reminiscence from the sets of Season’s Greetings…

On the 0.33 day of the shoot, Celina needed to shoot a scene with Lilletteji where she needed to hug her as say, “Ma aami eshe gechi (Ma I am back)!” Just earlier than the shot, she called me in her make-up room, sat with the script for a few minutes and burst out crying. She kept crying, searching out inside the window. I sat beside her in overall silence. The unit stood on standby. Only Celina and I knew what she was going via. She accumulated her damaged self, got here out of the room and did that shot in a single take. No surprise she’s been praised for her performance nowadays.What’s to your thoughts after Season’s Greetings?

Season’s Greetings opened on the Cardiff International Film Festival and travelled throughout the globe. It fetched me the Best Director award at the Rajasthan International Film Festival this yr. I am happy that the movie has been blessed by way of the critics and the target market. Such a miracle occurs once in a blue moon. In reality, this yr I actually have 4 extra films to be launched. My next could be Rickshawala, a bilingual in Bengali and Bhojpuri. The movie deals with the hand-pulled rickshawalas in Kolkata. It’s a homage to Balraj Sahani and Om Puri, who played rickshawla in Do Bigha Zameen and City Of Joy respectively. After that I may be liberating Broken Frame, a Hindi brief primarily based on my quick tale Long Island Iced Tea. The film stars Rohit Roy Bose and Ritabhari Chakraborty. It’s approximately a pair that decides to part approaches on their wedding anniversary.

Then I actually have Shubho Bijoya, a Hindi feature for the virtual platform. The film brings famous television couple Gurmeet Choudhury and Debina Bonnerjee back after almost eleven years. It’s about a photographer, who turns blind and a tremendous version, who’s diagnosed with pores and skin most cancers. It’s again a poetic and emotional story. I’ve additionally announced my first full length characteristic movie Binodinii, a biopic based totally on the famous seventeenth century theatre actress Binodini Dasi. I just finished operating on the primary draft in the course of the lockdown. I desire to shoot this movie when we return to normalcy.