Raajhorshee De’s film Sada Ronger Prithibi, presented by Amit Agarwal and produced by Shrravonii Paul and Sushant Sengupta, is releasing in theatres today. On February 19, a part of the cast and crew, along with members of the film’s music team, gathered at Glook — The Sky Lounge for the music launch of the film. Ashu Chakraborty helms the music album of the film as the music director.
“Ashu Chakbaborty is my music director. He has been a part of all my projects. Iman Chakraborty, Rupankar Bagchi and Jayati Chakraborty all have been an integral part of my earlier films. Ashu is one of the finest composers and backscorers of our times. The way he creates music is the future of Bengali music. The singers in this film — Dipayan Banerjee, Ankan Shee, Prosenjit Dey, Arka Dutta, Madhuri Dey, Madhuparna Ganguly, Debjani Karmakar and Debanjali Chatterjee are future stars. A neo-rendition of Vande mataram and Aji Bangladesher hridoy hote, which are part of the film, have never been heard before,” said Raajhorshee.
Ashu, who has worked with Raajhorshee for all his films, said: “This is my seventh film with Raajhorshee as a music director. He briefed me on this film’s music last year. He wanted to create a soundscape that has the ethnic vibe of Varanasi, but at the same time he told me not to create emotional music just because it is a women-centric film.” The film based on the crucial subject of widow trafficking in India has been extensively shot in Varanasi and Calcutta.
“The music should reflect the power that women have. We have beat sounds and the songs are orchestral with an Indian rhythm section to it. Rupankarda has a solo song called Jiyon kathi. Psychologist Anuttama Banerjee wrote Jiyon kathi. Rupankarda was very happy to sing this electronic guitar and rock fusion. Raajhorshee wanted a combination of Tagore’s Anandaloke mangalaloke with Amar sonar Bangla. He wanted the mukhra of one song and antara of another song. It was very challenging for me but is very close to my heart. So, I approached Jayati Chakraborty and Iman Chakraborty to sing it. This is the first time that these two stalwarts are singing a duet and we are making a collage of two Rabindra Sangeet. It feels like one song and is doing very well in the digital domain,” added Ashu, while talking about the music album of the film.
A pivotal character in the film is inspired by astrologer and philanthropist Sohini Sastri, who was present at the music launch along with team Sada Ronger Prithibi. Her new book on astrology was also launched at the event. “Bhairo, the character played by Mallika Banerjee in the film, is inspired by Sohini Shastri. Sohini is not only a fortune teller, she is also a healer. We all know the story, where the sages told the king that prince Siddhartha would become a sanyasi. To avoid it, the king kept him within the luxuries of the palace for years. When the prince went out, he suddenly saw sick, old, dead and suffering people. He became a sanyasi. Had the prince gone out and seen suffering from childhood, he would have become used to it like we have. Telling the destiny and avoiding the destiny is a part of the destiny,” said Raajhorshee regarding his inspiration for the film.
Talking about her book, Sastri said: “Astrology has been used for thousands of years to help predict events, understand the meaning of life, and teach people to communicate more effectively with others. This thought made me write this book in plain and simple language. This book is actually a complete guide to astrology written in Bengali to reach the people of my motherland, Bengal. In this book, my research on Vedic astrology profoundly ignited readers who love and are curious about astrology. The readers will observe through this book, how all things, big and small, operate on the same principle. Detailed charts are also there for their better understanding.”
Pictures: B Halder
