With a real-life story packed with thriller elements and some powerhouse performers, Raktabeej is ready to stun, promise Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee. The director duo tell us how they built the story around the 2014 Burdwan blast, and what to expect from their Durga Puja release.

What was the inspiration behind Raktabeej? How did the story take shape?

Nandita Roy: The subject was triggered by a newspaper article. Shibu (Shiboprosad Mukherjee) usually finds these news articles and then approaches me. If I am okay with it, we work on it. I also found the article interesting and thought that this could make for an interesting film.

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: The article was published in a leading newspaper. The journalist wrote that the President spent Durga Puja in terror, hiding. There were a lot of theories around the Khagragarh blast. One of the articles asked if it was just a blast or something else. That got us thinking. We immediately thought of developing a story. In the trailer, you can see the President coming to his sister’s house. This was there in the news article. The story of Raktabeej revolves around the attack and at the same time it is also a story of a brother and a sister.

The President would perform the Durga puja himself. He goes to his ancestral house in the village where the feel of Durga Puja is different. He doesn’t like the ring of security much and prefers to stay grounded. We have shown the personal side of a President; we don’t usually get to see that part of a President, so we wanted to bring that story out. The story is full of Bengali culture and also has a much bigger canvas.

What kind of preparation went into the film?

Nandita Roy: The screenplay was taken care of by Zinia Sen. She did the full research for the film. The dialogue was written by Sarbari Ghoshal. They both have created the screenplay.

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: We spoke to a few people who were involved with the VIP security of the President. We tried to follow the minutest detail of the President’s convoy and replicate it. We researched the security of the President, his security people, their responsibilities and the way they dress up. We also spoke to the people who investigated the Khagragarh blast. There were a lot of weapons in the blast zone. It had a pressure cooker bomb and a bomb inside a toy car. They found lots of SIM cards, passports and ID cards. It happened in 2014. We have tried to recreate that period in the film visually.

This is the first thriller that you have directed…

Nandita Roy: It has been challenging. I think Muktodhara was part-thriller. But Raktabeej was a very exciting project from the very beginning. We had a very good team. The assistant directors were super efficient. We shot in many locations and with many people. Handling junior artists is an art in itself. Crowd control and shooting the climax was very difficult. We had not done anything like this before and we loved it.

We hardly see Victor Banerjee in Bengali films these days. Was it difficult to convince him?

Nandita Roy: He suited the role to the tee. He was the ideal choice. We thought of approaching him keeping in mind that he would reject the offer. Shibu called him up…

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: I called him up and asked, ‘Have you ever heard of us or watched our films?’ He said, ‘If I had not known or seen your films, I would not have replied to your message.’ He also said, ‘Just as I have heard about your good will, I’m sure you have heard about my hostility too. I’m a very difficult person to handle.’

To me, Victor Banerjee is a legend. I was learning every day. Every day he would tell me some anecdote or personal experience of working in international films. For me, this particular film is a learning experience. I learnt choreographing action sequences from my action director, Manohar Varma. He was the action director for Mardani and Madras Cafe.

Can you talk about the casting of Mimi Chakraborty, Abir Chatterjee and Anasua Majumdar?

Nandita Roy: Some of the actors were on our mind while writing and some were cast through auditions. We do auditions and if we feel a particular person suits the character, we go forward with it. Victor Banerjee’s name came after the script was done. It was a perfect casting.

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: After writing the script, Abir and Mimi came to our mind. I had never worked with Abir and I have learnt so much from him. The way he handles action scenes is incredible. And Anasua Majumdar’s performance was a masterclass.

Raktabeej is releasing in four languages. Do you feel this will widen the market for Bengali films?

Nandita Roy: That is what we are trying to do.

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: Our distributors are quite positive about this. When we made Praktan, it was the first film to get a release in the US and Canada. We need to be open to new approaches. This is the first step. We might not be successful. We got an immense response to Haami 2 and Belashuru. We got a huge collection in Silchar, so we decided to go to Assam. Since Raktabeej is related to Durga Puja, we decided to release it on a big scale in Bhubaneswar.

Your film Alik Sukh has completed 10 years. What is your most vivid memory of the film?

Nandita Roy: It was a very special film for both of us. It was a complex story and I think we succeeded as people loved the film. We had Soumitra-da (Chatterjee), Debshankar Halder, Sohini Sengupta and Rituparna Sengupta. All of them made it very special and then we took the film to Cannes where it premiered.

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: Alik Sukh’s music was very important. Working with Anindya-da (Chatterjee) was a huge thing.

Music plays an important part in Raktabeej too…

Nandita Roy: Both of us love music and we can’t think of a film without music. The music selection is done by Shibu. He sits with the music director and when it’s done, they ask me whether I like it or not. He listens to a lot of music. He has a playlist of songs that he keeps playing when he writes scripts.

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: I listen to the playlist to get the emotions and write and think. Many times songs have triggered a good scene. The background score for Raktabeej has been done by Prabuddha Banerjee. Surojit Chatterjee, Anindya Chatterjee and Dohar have done the music.

Four films are releasing this Durga Puja. Is there a silent competition going on?

Nandita Roy: There is an audience for every film. We don’t need to compete. We are presenting four films to the audience. Let them pick and choose.

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: On Sashthi people will watch Jongole Mitin Mashi, on Saptami they will watch Bagha Jatin, on Ashtami it will be Raktabeej and on Navami it will be Dawshom Awbotaar. They can repeat what they liked on Vijaya Dashami. (Laughs)

What’s next for you?

Shiboprosad Mukherjee: We plan to start shooting our next film in December.