The KLIKK series Varanasi Junction, directed by Riingo Banerjee, is an actionpacked chase thriller set in the heart of Varanasi, where a young vlogger identifies a missing girl in the news and soon finds himself becoming a target in one of the most dangerous criminal rackets. Every move of his is watched and he does not know whom to trust in a city to which he does not belong. The series, which is streaming now, stars Amrita Chattopadhyay, Jitsundar Chakravarty, Judhajit Sarkar, Ridhwish Chowdhury, Korak Samanta, Abhijit Sengupta and more. A candid chat with Riingo.
What is the genesis of Varanasi Junction?
We were on a recce at Varanasi last June for Mirror Mirror, a project we were planning then, when we planned to shoot a film completely based on the mystical terrains of Varanasi — the ghats, the alleys, the sand bed, the great Manikarnika and, of course, the famous Dashashwamedh ghat. When we were returning I planned a possible thriller plot line based on the recce and thus the germ of Varanasi Junction was born. We knew the locale is spectacular, the people and the pilgrims are in thousands and the history and mythology were written in every nook and corner, and to place a thriller for a Bengali portal here would be nothing less than a scream!
Tell us more about the storyline...
A vlogger takes a trip to Varanasi to showcase the spots where the great Ray shot his Feluda epic Joi Baba Felunath for his blog called Flashback Feluda (he travels to all the spots where the Feluda films were shot) and as he captures footage, he witnesses a murder and decides to find out more about the crime. Soon he becomes a target of the syndicate and soon enough, he knows there is a journalist who too is tracking the criminals. Both cross their paths, unknown to each other and we see the narrative of the storyline from two different points of views based on the same crime. The criminals begin to close in, bodies begin to roll and both Ronodip and Supriya are living dangerously. Do they team up? Who wins and who loses at what cost? Varanasi Junction is the chase that will answer the questions.
How did it feel to visit those places where Joi Baba Felunath was shot?
I have grown up reading Feluda and those two gems that the great Ray made remain my finest movie moment. To visit the ghats and climb the stairs, which were used in Joi Baba Felunath brought butterflies in the tummy and moths in the mind. In one word, goosebumps.
How did you decide on the lead cast?
Amrita and I have been discussing projects for a while and we were waiting for the right script to feature her. The role of Supriya was apt for her and she grabbed it when we offered it. Jitsundar was suggested by the creative team at KLIKK and I had not seen much of his work, though our producer Ohendrila recommended him and said he fits the bill. We auditioned him and he was the one I knew to play Ronodip. Judhajit plays a positive character this time around and I thought he will suit this image well. And yes, Agnibha June Banerjee, my son, gets launched in this series. Thanks to Ohendrila for casting him and he really showed promise as an actor, which was a real surprise for me.
Tell us about the research that went into this.
The research was twofold. One was the locale that is thronging with people (thousands in the evening) and the question was so where do we shoot and how do we truly make it invisible to the prying eyes of the public? Being a chase thriller, actors were to run through the crowd followed by me with the camera. That was the first research — find the right spot to shoot the scenes, and make the actors disappear amidst the crowd. The second was the format. We have switched over to the one-inch sensor format and shooting this big a scale under the hard sun and dimly-lit bylanes would be a test for the mobile phones to be used in the shoot. So I had to get back to my learning days to relearn the techniques and prepare for a battle.
Why was Varanasi important for the storyline?
The landscape would define the mounting of the project Varanasi Junction. OTT series nowadays need to look and feel big, bold and rich in production value. Varanasi offered all three. People often ask me if shooting on a mobile is cheap, my answer is not exactly. It’s the flexibility of the equipment that enables you to remain invisible and yet deliver the scenes that the script demands. It’s not about the price, but about the easiness of the shoot. That’s where the mobile cinema format becomes the chosen format for film-makers like me.
(L-R) Amrita, Riingo
You have shot the series on the mobile phone. Why do you feel it’ll be a game-changer for the industry?
When I shot Kranti in 2005 on the HD format for a theatre release, no one believed it was possible. I believed, my producers believed in me and my research... though they were warned by many that I am misleading them for my own aspirations... but I knew digital format will be the future and see how celluloid faded out and everything we shoot now is digital. The mobile one-inch format is here to stay and is fast developing into a challenger. The phone manufacturers are spending trillions of dollars to improve the camera systems of the handsets and if you learn the techniques you can achieve the impossible look and feel using the handsets. It’s fast, easy to handle and most importantly it delivers quality that is good for a big screen (of course, the techniques of lensing, grading and shooting exposures need to be mastered). Watch Varanasi Junction on the big screen, and you will believe once to watch the quality. I truly believe very soon, people will adapt to this system and maybe, it will make me happy that in this lifetime I contributed twice to introduce a game-changer in this part of the world.
What are the advantages?
It’s fast, needs less light, the mounting is cinematic and most importantly, you can stay invisible while shooting an epic. That’s fantastic, I feel! Portability is key in a chase film. There was a scene where my actors should be crossing each other on a boat and we had to have two angles in one shot. So I held the camera and crossed over to the passing boat. Seamless it was. And then the running with my hero through the crowd ... that was one chase... a single shot with just me and Jit running... People, cows, scooters, pilgrims, sadhus.... they came and went... no one understood that we are shooting one helluva action sequence.
What are the challenges?
The one-inch format requires the DOP to be very precise on the exposure and shutter angle choices. This is crucial and of course, the grading techniques are different from the normal process. Once you master these, you have a winner in hand. The handsets deliver to the utmost and if you choose your lensing right, it will be difficult to tell that this was actually shot on a mobile system.
What are you trying to say through the series?
Varanasi Junction is my first outing with KLIKK. This series is a fast-paced thriller and it’s mounted in the most popular and some of the most unknown places of Varanasi. So once you watch it, it will not only thrill you but it will be a journey to the most fascinating venues of Varanasi.
Are there any fond or scary anecdotes from the shoot?
We walked 16 to 17 kilometres each day to finish our schedules and though super tiring, it was worth the pain because the actors were delivering performances beyond expectations and the mobile handsets would just cause ripples in our minds when we asked ourselves: “How is this possible on a mobile phone?”
