The spine-chilling incident involving Partha De, who was discovered by the police residing in his house on Robinson Street with the skeletal remains of his sister and two pet dogs, is the subject of the docuseries Robinson Street Horror Story – Myth or Reality, streaming on Hoichoi. Director Kamaleswar Mukherjee talks to us about foraying into the docuseries format with his true story that rocked Kolkata in 2015.

Docuseries is not a common genre in the Bengali film industry. What intrigued you to make Robinson Street Horror Story: Myth or Reality?

Kamaleswar Mukherjee: Documentary films are common in India but they don’t get screenings in the commercial space. With the arrival of OTT, documentaries have started getting a space in the commercial circuit.

The incident on Robinson Street in Kolkata took place in 2015 and Partha De, who was at the centre of the incident in his house on Robinson Street, died in 2017. During the lockdown, we thought of developing this idea. A lot of things were still unclear. We were getting horrifying stories from the news channels but we failed to understand Partha De. We needed to know the real person.

As a director, I wanted to explore the psychological genre with Robinson Street Horror Story – Myth or Reality. We started reaching out to people who knew Partha De and the case. They all supported us. We recorded their interviews and later we recreated a few things while filming. We also used footage from the news channels.

What aspects of the incident did you choose to focus on and why?

Kamaleswar Mukherjee: There is always a reason behind every incident. After starting the research, I realised some things were still not out in the open. Partha De was mentally unstable for sure.

Society wants every person to follow norms but there are people who think differently and don’t go by societal norms. Does that mean we will never tell their stories? I wanted to see the whole incident from a different angle.

Before judging a person, we should first observe the person. If a person is delusional and has a mental condition, whatever he says and thinks is different from a normal person. After his treatment, when Partha became mentally stable, he experienced judgement from everyone around him, which may have pushed him towards his death. We wanted to tell this side of the story.

It is a search for what is myth and what is reality. There were a lot of myths in the incident for sure.

What kind of research did this project need?

Kamaleswar Mukherjee: When you are trying to document something, the resource material becomes very important and accessing resource material is not easy. Audiovisual clips and print clips, authentic quotations and information are difficult to access if the person has died.

I got the support of Kolkata Police. The people from Partha’s rehabilitation centre helped us too. There was no documentation of his childhood. We tried to reconstruct it from his diary entries. Psychiatrists, psychologists, lawyers and mental disability activists gave us a lot of information and testimonies. We didn’t get any information from his existing family members. They didn’t even allow us into their house.

My primary observation was that as a mentally unstable person, Partha De didn’t have a single person beside him initially. When his rehabilitation happened, people from different sections of society started helping him.

Which are some of your favourite docuseries?

Kamaleswar Mukherjee: There are many — MH370-The Plane That Disappeared, Life on Earth, Journey to the Edge of Universe, Roman Empire. I am a big fan of Michael Moore’s documentaries.

What is next for you?

Kamaleswar Mukherjee: I am planning to direct a web series called Gonodebota featuring Chanchal Chowdhury.