Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee’s film Bohurupi — starring Abir Chatterjee, Shiboprosad, Koushani Mukherjee and Ritabhari Chakraborty — provides a perfect blend of action and thrills as a cop and a robber are pitted against each other. The storyline is based on real events that spanned from 1999 to 2005. “We had the germ of the idea in 2012. This is our biggest film to date; the canvas is bigger. We shot it across 84 locations,” said Shiboprosad. A t2 chat.

Your production house Windows is famous for its social dramas, which are extremely successful. Why did you decide to shift gears and move into the action-thriller space?

Nandita: We have always believed in delivering a variety of films. You’ll find our signature in Bohurupi too. There is emotion, drama, a social message and action. Maybe, the shift is happening for our Puja films.

Shiboprosad: We wanted to ramp up the scale of our films. When we started making films, the Bengali film industry was churning out remake films. In our early days, people would say that we made good films... but at the same time, some people felt that our films were not money-spinners. Things started to change when our films became the highest grossers... they turned out to be blockbusters. Bela Sheshe, Praktan, Posto and Haami changed the scenario altogether and broke all kinds of myths. Content emerged as the winner.

Did you decide to change ways because directors started copying your style of filmmaking?

Shiboprosad: Some of them even called up and told me that what they were making resembled our brand of cinema. They were doing it in a planned way. After a point, we felt that the whole industry was making our kind of cinema. All the films looked the same. Then we took the responsibility to change track... we decided to start making films that would look completely different... they would be different in content and scale. We made a conscious decision to tell rooted stories.

With a bigger budget for your Puja films, the risk factor is also higher...

Shiboprosad: Yes.

Is it giving you sleepless nights?

Nandita: No! We have faith in our audience.

Shiboprosad: Our audience has been with us since our first film. We are really thankful to everyone for showering so much love on our films. We had the idea for Bohurupi in 2012. We had developed the story during the time we made Mukhtodhara. We could not make it then because this film demanded a larger budget.

Nandita: We got a call from someone. The person wanted to meet us. He came to our office in 2012 and told us that he had robbed 27 banks in five years and that he was the biggest bank robber in Bengal. He told us to tell his story. He wanted everyone to know his story; he wanted people to know how he robbed the banks. He would call Shibu every week to know when we would make the film. Both the cop and the dacoit are real in the film.

Filmmaker Nandita Ray at t2 birthday party 2024 at Roots on February 1

Did you believe him at first?

Nandita: He came to us through a reference... so we knew that he was not making things up. We found his story to be interesting. He loved to glorify himself.

Shiboprosad: We started our research work then and we spoke with many people. I started talking to him and asked a bunch of questions.

What kind of questions did you ask him?

Shiboprosad: For example, I asked whether we can depict a certain aspect of his life. And he was completely okay with it. Then I quizzed him about the cop, and he was like: ‘Ask the cop why he couldn’t catch me.’ His sense of pride is tremendous. Another interesting thing about him was that no case was registered against him during that time. He would conduct the whole operation in a unique way. You’ll have to watch the film to know how he goes about it. Also, it is very difficult to imagine him as a robber. He looks so straightforward and uncomplicated. But he was the Number One among robbers who had operated in Bengal at that time.

How many people know his story?

Shiboprosad: The police knew about him. And curiously, this person waited for 12 years... he wanted us to tell his story. I had told him that it would take time to make this film. He jokingly said that he’d be happy if he got to see it in his lifetime.

Why did you decide to cast Shiboprosad as the robber?

Nandita: Who else would have played him? Shibu was perfect for this role of a person who assumes multiple identities. I could only picture Shibu as the robber while writing the screenplay. Incidentally, Shibu was not ready to play this character. He had told me that this was a commercial film from Windows and one needs to cast a commercial hero for such a film. But I was sure and I wanted Shibu to play this character.

Shiboprosad: The entire cast and crew felt that I should do it. This was the biggest challenge.

Abir and Ritabhari

The romantic scenes between Shiboprosad and Koushani have come in for a lot of praise...

Nandita: Initially, it took a while for the scenes to take shape. They were so rigid in their first romantic scene. There was no feeling, no chemistry. ‘Does one romance one’s lover like this?’ I asked them. After the shoot got over that day, I called both of them and gave them a good scolding.

Shiboprosad: I just hung my head. The pep talk really helped. The same shots were taken the next day and Didi was happy with the result.

Tell us about the casting process. Why did you decide on Abir, Ritabhari and Koushani?

Shiboprosad: Abir and Ritabhari’s chemistry worked wonders in Fatafati and we wanted to continue with the pair. Abir, Ritabhari and Koushani are brilliant in the film.

Nandita: Shibu is fantastic in the film. He suggested that I meet Koushani. Once I met her, I realised that she was perfect for the role of Jhimli. She was speaking to Shibu and she was quite animated... she had a lovely smile. There was no inhibition... and I liked her expressions. Later I told Shibu that I had found my Jhimli.