As the producer and also its leading man, Jeet believes Chengiz is one of the better films to have come out of his production house. In this gangster film set in Kolkata a few decades earlier, Jeet plays an underworld don. The Tollywood star tells us what went behind the making of the film and his inspirations for playing the title character.

Chengiz is the first Bengali film to be released simultaneously in Bengali and Hindi. Why did you decide to release the film across India?

Jeet: It was on our mind for quite some time. I have been wanting to cross boundaries. I wanted to reach the audience outside Bengal. That was the main aspiration. Fortunately, we saw Bahubali making a roadmap. We saw that in no time there were so many regional actors and filmmakers who started following that. This roadmap was clear in front of us; we had to follow that. That is when we decided to make Chengiz. From writer Neeraj Pandey, actor Rohit Roy to Mika Singh and Arijit Singh coming on board, it was taking a nice shape. We also reached out to Anil Thadani. Initially he said that he wanted to see the film. We completed the film, we dubbed it in Hindi and we showed the film. He liked it. It was gracious of him to agree to release the film in Hindi.

Chengiz is also produced by you. How did it take shape?

Jeet: The underworld Kolkata of late 1970s to mid-’90s has not been explored much. Rajesh Ganguly had the idea. From day one he was clear that the title of the film would be ‘Chengiz’. Earlier he thought of making a web series of seven-eight episodes. It was very long and elaborate. I asked him to convert the story into a film. Then Neeraj Pandey came on board and we all have been working on the script closely. The entire story was converted to a two-and-a-half hour content. It's so grippy, yet it has all the nuances and elements. There are 76 characters in the film. It is a huge cast.

Do you feel gangster stories have become a little generic from the way the characters behave and look? How is Chengiz different?

Jeet: The writing makes Chengiz look a little edgy and sleek. These are two things which we had in mind. Loosely my body language is inspired from Tony Montana’s character (from Scarface). And I have always been inspired by Amitabh Bachhan. I am an actor only because of him. Deewar had a huge impact on me.

Chengiz is your 55th film. How does a film like this mark the evolution in your filmography?

Jeet: This is a very special film for us. It is a dream which we have been living for a year and half. I generally don’t take such long gaps between films. We have given it a lot of time and I hope it adds something to my filmography. We feel Chengiz is one of the better products from our production house.

Our profession is such that every time I approach a new film, I have to start afresh. I enjoy my job because I get to learn so many things every day.

What went behind creating your look?

Jeet: For me, sketching out a different character for every film is a challenge. The idea for the look was given by me. I have my team who does my makeup and hair. I am always personally involved in my character’s styling process.

The action scenes in Chengiz have been choreographed by Stunt Silva, who is one of the most renowned stunt directors in the southern film industry. How was it working with him?

Jeet: He is a wonderful human. He got into the entire creative of the film, the story and the fight sequences. He knows his craft well. He made the action sequences easy for me. There are some sequences where I had to work very hard. Without working hard, nothing can be achieved.

How do you usually select your scripts for your production house?

Jeet: Good stories are important. For myself, I feel there needs to be a mix of everything, where you have a bit of action, entertainment, masala and comedy.

We all know that mainstream masala films are the drivers of the industry. But unfortunately our industry is not producing too many mainstream commercial films. Maybe the thought process will change and we will start making them more. We will continue to do them as long as we can.

How do you see OTT as a platform to tell stories? Any plans to produce or act in one?

Jeet: OTT has definitely opened up doors for many producers, actors and filmmakers. But I feel cinema is an experience which should be constant. We have a story ready for one OTT but we are still working on it.