Banglar Shera Bhooter Golpo is an anthology series that aims to adapt the very best of Bengali horror stories into the audio-visual medium. After the success of Season One on the Aaro Ananda app, Season Two will stream from December 7 on the Aaro Ananda app. While Season One was directed by Abhirup Ghosh, Season Two has been directed by Sumanta Banerjee, Abhirup Dolai and Sarbajit Chatterjee. A t2 chat with Abhirup, who has presented Season Two.
Why did you decide to do Season Two?
The biggest reason for doing a second season was the tremendous response we got from the first season. The series did extremely well and grew based entirely on word-of-mouth feedback. We could see in social media comments that audiences were asking for more stories. Luckily, Bengali literature has a treasure trove of numerous chilling ghost stories waiting to be adapted. I have always been an ardent fan of this genre and grown up on a steady dose of superb horror stories. I was always excited to adapt my favourite ghost stories. Thankfully, Aaro Ananda gave me the opportunity to bring these stories to life, and audiences gave the first season a lot of love.
Sujan Mukherjee
Tell us about the stories.
This season, we are telling three more stories. The first one, Bador er Paa, is adapted from a story of the same name by Hemendra Kumar Roy. It focuses on a middle-aged man, Animesh Das (Sujan Neel Mukherjee) who gets his hands on a mysterious totem – a mummified monkey’s paw, which has the power to grant three wishes. As the man makes a wish to give his daughter, Debi (Dimple Acharya) an expensive, dream wedding, the paw makes its darkness felt, and the man begins to understand the meaning of the saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’
The next story is Joggo, adapted from the story Biroja Hom o taar Badha, by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. It focuses on a couple Sunanda and Souvik (Bibriti Chatterjee and Judhajit Sarkar), whose daughter is suffering from a dangerous, mysterious disease, which is about to take her life. They resort to the help of a priest (Buddhadeb Bhattacharya), who organises a very difficult ritual, aiming to save the young girl’s life. As the priest tries to turn the cycle of life and death, different supernatural beings make their presence felt in the house, trying to stop the ritual.
The third story is Dhaaki, adapted from the story Nishuti Raater Dhaki, by Shyamal Dutta Chowdhury. It focuses on a cursed village, which is the only place in Bengal, where dhaak is not played during the Durga Pujas. This is due to the fear of a child dhaaki’s ghost, who apparently comes back from the dead and kills villagers if anyone plays the dhaak during the pujas. As a family returns to this village after many years, their young son, who has never seen Durga Puja before, explores his ancestral mansion amidst the Puja festivities. However, he accidentally ends up playing the dhaak soundtrack on his phone, and all hell breaks loose.
Abhirup Ghosh
Who plays who?
In Bador er Paa, Sujan Neel Mukherjee plays Animesh Das, the middle-aged father who wants to renovate his ancestral house, to give a grand wedding to his daughter. Dimple Acharya plays Debi Das, his daughter. In Joggo, Bibriti Chatterjee plays Sunanda, a young mother who will go to any lengths to save the life of her daughter. Judhajit Sarkar plays Souvik, Sunanda’s husband. Though Souvik appears to be a good father and a husband, he has a dark side. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya plays the priest who helps the couple in saving their daughter. Ayusmita Chakraborty plays Mun, the daughter whose life is at stake. In Dhaaki, Pratik Dutta and Shabnam Mustafi play the young couple Rohit and Priya, who have come back to Rohit’s ancestral village after many years. Abhinav Barua plays Joy, their son who is seeing Durga Puja for the first time in his life. Soham Chakraborty plays the child Dhaaki’s ghost, the entity that haunts the village.
What can the audience expect from the series?
Audiences can expect old-school, cosy scares from the series. We have tried to create a warm, gripping series that makes audiences remember their school winter vacations when the ideal definition of a lazy winter afternoon would be to wrap oneself up in a blanket and read a good ghost story. We have intentionally avoided making something too violent or over-dependent on jump scares. Audiences can expect to be spooked by the stories for sure, but they won’t be disturbed for sure.
What are the high points?
The high points are the atmospherics and the moody textures of the series. The three stories have very different setups and are sure to give very unique experiences to audiences. Audiences will be able to relate to each story also as our dialogue writer Soumit Deb has incorporated a lot of reflections of the socio-economic aspects we see around us every day. Metaphorically, we have tried to talk about different social issues in each story. The cinematographers, Subhadeep Nashkar and Ashim Debnath have played with lights and shadows to create amazing visuals. Our editor, Sumit Chowdhury has helped us weave the narratives in a crisp manner. The music by Amlaan A Chakraborty and Bob Sn, is goosebump-inducing stuff. Amit Das’s terrific sound design is the true magic behind the scare quotient of the series. Overall, all three stories are chilling to the core and should give audiences a gala time.