The storyline of the film Kaliachak Chapter 1 revolves around the news of a young boy who allegedly kills his entire family and puts the bodies inside a cesspit. The bodies are found a few months later by the police and his confessions spin the heads of the investigators. “The film is a work of fiction. People have loved the raw and organic feel of rural Bengal. Crime thrillers have a huge liking throughout our country,” said director Ratool Mukherjee. A t2 chat.
Kaliachak Chapter 1 is based on the criminal underbelly of a small town in rural Bengal...
Kaliachak Chapter 1 is a work of fiction, it is inspired from true events. It has been made primarily for entertainment and it has got no relevance to reality. Though the genre is crime and action, this film shows the journey of a young boy from the suburban part of Bengal. Thriller being my favourite genre, this film also answers all three aspects of a thriller syntax: whodunit, whydunit and howdunit in a non-linear way. The structure of the film got me excited to take up the challenge.
How would you describe this world in Malda?
If you ask me about my personal experience with Malda, I would rather say that it is one of the sweetest places I have been to. The local language is pleasant to the ears, and people are extremely polite, helpful and passionate. It is a very peaceful place. All said and done, every place on earth has its share of good and bad people which is very simple and binary. Malda isn’t an exception. I had read earlier in the newspapers that Malda is a district with a rising crime rate but I had felt just the opposite during my stay there.
I had to sit with our writer Atanu Tanuj Ghosh to chalk out the structure of the film. We did our fair bit of research on the subject and the final script was made accordingly. This film focuses on a particular incident/heinous crime which took place at the heart of Kaliachak.
How did you do the research for the film?
Atanu and I had literally scrutinised every news article, every video footage and every news report on the incident which forms the nucleus of this film. Asim and his team of content creators also helped us with all the footage we needed to replicate the incident.
The film deals with a complex maze of characters who are shown to be involved in criminal activities.
Certainly, the film deals with crime but there is another side to the film too. Atanu and I firmly believe in films with a strong message. Kaliachak Chapter 1 doesn’t have violence which is forced, or crime which isn’t required for the scene. All I want to say is we haven’t shown anything just for the sake of it, in the entire film. Every scene has a meaning, adding its quota of logic in making Kaliachak Chapter 1 a massy, entertaining yet meaningful and realistic film.
No, things didn’t get dangerous or ugly during our research or execution because we didn’t have to meet real criminals. This is a fictional story.
What kind of characters did you meet while doing the research?
Largely I had taken up the challenge to work with many content creators in this film. Our protagonist, Asim Aktar, is a content creator himself; Mrinmoy (Cinebap) and many other content creators have worked in this film. I met many actors who work as theatre practitioners in Malda. Overall it was an overwhelming experience.
Why the title Kaliachak
Chapter 1?
Just for the fact that the crime on which the story revolves had taken place at Kaliachak and the producers had wanted to name it as Kaliachak Chapter 1.
What are you trying to say through the film?
The entire team had given their best to support the message we wanted to convey through this film. I can vouch for the fact that the message won’t be misleading to the audience and people will like every aspect of this film.
What were the major challenges of directing the film?
We had shot the entire film in Malda; shooting on real locations and that too in the summer was a challenge. The entire crew had to be well-hydrated to carry out the job on hand. We wanted to replicate the real locations on screen, hence the location scouting was challenging. Personally, I believe in destiny, and somehow I felt a divine intervention whenever we felt that the challenges were overpowering us. So here we are, after crossing all the hurdles in the race and finally towards the finish line.
How was your shooting experience?
I had the opportunity to work with many actors who will be making their debut through this film. I wanted to make them feel at ease in front of the camera and didn’t want to bind them in technicalities. That probably helped me to get the best out of them, moreover, I got immense help from Rupanjana, Parthada (Partha Sarathi), Tajuda (Debapratim Dasgupta) and Debuda (Deboprasad Halder). All of them made work easier for the debutants and made them feel comfortable and at home during the shoot.
Protagonist Asim Aktar is a very dedicated actor who is always ready to learn. He had followed my instructions like an obedient student and had also taken suggestions from senior actors on set to make his performance better.
Kaliachak Chapter 1 was a beautiful journey and I was lucky to have this team.
What did you keep in mind while designing the action scenes?
I wanted the action scenes to be as organic and as close to reality as possible. For that, I had done my part of the research, had to sit with my cinematographers and design and compose the scenes in such a way so that the pace and visuals of the action scenes were on point. We have used wider spaces, wider lenses, aerial angles and detailed cuts of complex action sequences. We have used split screens to show simultaneous action/reaction of the sequences during the post-production. I strongly feel the action and the audio-visual treatment of this non-linear story will be appealing to the audience.
Tell us about the cast.
The cast of Kaliachak Chapter 1 comprises Rupanjana Mitra, Asim Aktar, Partha Sarathi, Debapratim Dasgupta, Deboprasad Halder and Pratish Ghosh.
The cast is a blend of amazing performers with absolutely fresh faces which I feel is going to be the USP of this film.
People haven’t seen Rupanjana playing a cop, Partha Sarathi in such a shaded character; one hasn’t seen Debapratim Dasgupta play such a fierce character. And a bunch of fresh faces have the advantage of zero public perception which will help the film become more believable as no past comparison will arise. This whole blend of experience and freshness will make this film unique.
Rupanjana helped this film and did it for a single rupee. She is a rockstar. The whole team will be grateful to her. This is the third time I am directing Rupanjana and all three characters are so different from each other. Starting from Palok to Ikir Mikir and now Kaliachak Chapter 1, she always carries that element of surprise and brings in her experience to make the character very real. She is an absolute delight to watch on screen.
What can the audience expect from the film?
This film will entertain the audience and will keep them at the edge of their seats as the film hardly has any dull moment and is a complete event-based roller coaster ride. Kaliachak Chapter 1 has all the elements to be liked by both the urban and the suburban/rural audience.
