Director Victor Mukherjee is set to make his feature film debut with Lakadbaggha, a film about an animal lover vigilante that has Anshuman Jha in the titular role.

An animal lover himself, Victor was compelled to make this film to give a voice to the voiceless. “You often read about cruelty against animals but it doesn’t stop. So, we just want some space for creatures that don’t have a voice. I want people to realise that all it takes is just one act of kindness,” he said.

Lakadbaggha had a week-long schedule in his hometown, Kolkata. “We have shot on some of the busiest streets in Kolkata. Kolkata has a character of its own — those green window panes, yellow taxis, the trams. It adds to the mise-en-scene of the film.”

The director, who has also produced shows for television, talked about the difference between filming in Kolkata and Mumbai. “The shooting shifts in Kolkata are different from what we are used to in Mumbai. In Kolkata it’s an eight-hour shift, while it’s a 12-hour shift in Mumbai. So, we had a limited time. But the Kolkata crew was amazing. They made the seven days in the city easy for us,” he said.

Victor was also all praises for his Director of Photography, Jean-Marc Selva. “We shot the film with a handheld camera. Going around the streets of Kolkata with Steadicam and rigs was a task for a 59-year-old French man who doesn’t understand English. But he did it with a smile on his face,” the director said.

Lakadbaggha was screened at Kolkata International Film Festival. But Victor was afraid of getting a backlash for the film from the Bengali audience. “In 2018, there was an incident in Kolkata where people were selling dog meat as mutton. A lot of mutton bans and meat bans had happened in the city. We used that portion in our film. We have also used one of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs as the theme song of our film. I thought that I would get a backlash because I thought that they wouldn't like it.”

But to Victor’s surprise, the audience at a packed house at Nandan gave the film a standing ovation. On an emotional note, the director said, “At Nandan, sitting among the packed house of 950 people and getting a standing ovation at the end of the film was the best feeling. 2022 was a bad year in my life, but that was the best day of the year for me.”

Lakadbaggha, which is produced by Anshuman Jha’s First Ray Films, also features Ridhi Dogra, Paresh Pahuja, Milind Soman, Eksha Kerung, and Kharaj Mukherjee. The film will hit the cinemas on January 13.