For years, Soumik Haldar has been the go-to person for filmmakers in Bengal as their director of photography. He is the guy behind the evocative visuals of films like Rituparno Ghosh’s Shob Charitro Kalponik, Aparna Sen’s Goynar Baksho and many of Srijit Mukherji’s works starting with Autograph. Directing films has always been on the cards nevertheless and Soumik shares with us his takeaways from directing his first feature film, Abar Bibaho Obhijaan, a slapstick comedy with a large ensemble cast.

From a cinematographer to a film director, has directing films always been on your mind?

Soumik Haldar: Yes, this has been on my mind for a long time. I went to FTII Pune to do a Diploma in Cinema: Specialising in Motion Picture Photography. In the first year, we had to do a common course where we studied direction, sound and editing. I went through the whole process of filmmaking, from directing to editing. My continuity film scored well.

From that time I knew that someday I would want to tell a story myself. Since I was studying a different subject, I didn’t have time to think about it. But after spending so many years in the film industry, I felt this is the right time to try my hand at storytelling. Recently I directed a few web series for Hoichoi. And finally this film happened. I am lucky that I got this opportunity.

Why did you choose Abar Bibaho Obhijaan as your first feature film?

Soumik Haldar: I love commercial films. I would love to make a commercial film again. Maybe the genre is going to be different. It can be an action thriller.

SVF was planning this film for a long time. I had no idea that the film was going to come to me and I got very excited when that happened. It is a huge thing for me to get SVF as the producer for my first directorial venture. My career’s biggest and important films have been with SVF.

For reference I watched films like Welcome, Hera Pheri and Judwa to understand slapstick comedy better, how to handle the scenes and situations and make it more funny. The actors’ involvement, their presence and how they emote the dialogues is very important in these kinds of films.

A good or great lighting will not matter in the film. I had to be more focused on the acting part. I knew the actors well, so it was easier for me to handle them.

The film has not been shot by you though…
Soumik Haldar: The person who shot the film is my assistant, Animesh Ghorui. He has been assisting me for the past seven years. He is my right-hand person. Animesh had started out as a camera caretaker. I did not shoot a single scene in Abar Bibaho Obhijaan as I was busy directing. The light design and shot design was done by him. Animesh has done a wonderful job. I am very proud of him.

The reason why I didn’t do the camerawork for this film is because I panic a lot. I did not want to handle two things at the same time as it would have turned into a poorly executed film. I wanted someone who’s like-minded, who would understand my brief and shoot accordingly. I wanted to see how the other person was interpreting it. That brings a different kind of fun and flavour to the visuals.

Did Bibaho Obhijaan influence your film which is a sequel?
Soumik Haldar: Not really. The two stories are very different; their crisis points are different. The backdrop is different as is the flavour. Comedy is a tough genre to handle. I have tried to create a different world in my own way in this film.

You directed Mahabharat Murders and Byomkesh for Hoichoi. How different is directing a feature film from OTT?
Soumik Haldar: I don’t really see any difference. Nowadays an OTT film is shot like a feature film. For OTT, I feel you depend more on closeups. In films, you usually take long establishment shots. In the case of Abar Bibaho Obhijaan, since it’s a comedy, I used a lot of closeups for reactions.

What were some of the challenges, individual or collective, that you faced while working on Abar Bibaho Obhijaan?
Soumik Haldar: We don’t have good budgets for films in Bengal. That’s a big challenge. For this film, there were many actors, many scenes and a lot of things happening in the story. It is a huge challenge to handle many actors in a single scene. If you make one mistake, the other cards start falling one after the other. Paying attention to every dialogue and focusing on the emotions and reactions of each actor was important. I had a tough time as a director. Maybe as a cinematographer I would have shot it smoothly, but as a director, when I was designing and choreographing the scene, it was tough.

Direction and storytelling is very tough. I realised it while executing the story and narrating it. Handling actors is very important. I had to keep everything in mind and the planning had to be very precise. In terms of direction, I am a newcomer and a learner. I don’t want to rush, I want to take it slow. I thought making films is easy but while doing it, I realised it’s very tough.

How has your background in cinematography influenced your work as a film director?

Soumik Haldar: Confidence. You give me anything to shoot in any situation, I will pull it off. If you give me a camera, the confidence that I have in me is the plus point.

What do you have next?
Soumik Haldar: I am shooting Srijit Mukherji’s web series Durgo Rawhoshyo. I also want to pitch my ideas for my directorial ventures.