The Telegraph Online caught up with filmmaker Srijit Mukherji and actor Koushik Sen ahead of the release of their film Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei on January 23. While Srijit recalled how the story, originally written as a play in 2007, evolved over time, Koushik talked about his experience on Srijit’s set.

How did the idea of adapting Ek Ruka Hua Faisla come to you?

Srijit: This particular text has been adapted many times in many languages, underlying many issues all over the world through so many different lenses. As a storyteller, I always found it fascinating. As a template, you can put forward your views on issues. The legal, moral and ethical implications were always there.

My first experience of this text was through Ek Ruka Hua Faisla, which was an NSD play long before Basu Chatterjee had adapted it into a film. Which is why I thought I should have my own take. In 2007, I did a play called Mind Games in Bengaluru, which was an adaptation of this text. Gulshan Devaiah played the role Ritwick Chakraborty plays in Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei.

Eighteen years have passed since you wrote your play. Society has evolved, issues have changed. How did you incorporate them in your script?

Srijit: Issues which have snowballed over the last 18 years have found prominence in my film. References to the overall politics of the country have been added. One thing which I want to point out is that, like many things have changed in the new text, many things have remained the same. They have become bigger, darker and uglier. I have tried to address those issues by escalating the pitch and tenor of those conflicts.

(To Koushik Sen) Why did you say ‘yes’ to the role?

Koushik: Not only my role or my character, I said yes to the entire script. The character which I play in the film is by profession an economist. He is very poised and educated but has a bias. He feels about his choices very strongly but loves to listen. He does not get swayed very easily.

We all know that in the story, 11 people in the jury are standing on one side while one person is on the other side. However, these 11 people also have many differences of opinion amongst themselves, which makes it even more fascinating. No matter which section they come from, they are all playing judges — not only the accused but also each other and themselves, introspecting their own decisions. We get to see some lovely acting.

This is a ‘dream’ ensemble cast. Bringing 12 such diverse actors together, how challenging was it to direct them?

Srijit: I didn’t have to direct them (laughs). They are all such fine actors… my only challenge was to get their dates (laughs). I also insisted on a rehearsal process.

Koushik: That was also an interesting thing. I feel directors should rarely instruct actors on how to act. However, when you are a professional actor and performing in so many projects, after a certain point of time, lethargy creeps in. That’s why Srijit was insisting on rehearsals. Initially, we were very sceptical but when it started we understood its importance and started enjoying the process.

(To Koushik Sen) In Suman Ghosh’s recent documentary on Aparna Sen, you had expressed that acting workshops often limit an actor’s craft. So what was different in this case?

Koushik: Frankly, with due respect to Aparna Sen and Sohag Sen, I don’t enjoy that kind of workshop at this age and at this point of my career. This rehearsal was different. It was one with a purpose which helped enrich the film.

Srijit: One way of conducting workshops is you put together a quartet and tell each musician: this is the progression, play it on your instrument. The other way of saying it is: please get your instruments and let’s make music. I don’t need to tell you which notes to hit. My job is purely logistical — to get them at one place and ensure there’s coffee (laughs).

Did you have any actors in mind when you wrote the characters?

Srijit: I wrote this script after I had written Autograph (2011). This was supposed to be my second — or maybe third — film. I had pitched both this film and Chotushkone (2014) to Ritu-da (Rituparno Ghosh). In a bizarre turn of events, in Chotushkone, Parambrata (Chattopadhyay) played the character which was offered to Ritu-da. Here also he plays the role which I had offered to Ritu-da. Back then, I did have some faces in mind. I have even retained some of the characters’ names from the original script.

Koushik: I had heard this script even before working with Srijit in Rajkahini (2015). I was supposed to be a part of the Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei that was conceived back then. That film didn’t happen.

So, was the film titled Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei from the very beginning?

Srijit: No. Initially the film was named ‘Dozen’. But then a script evolves over the years. As the drafts came on, I realised the focus is not on any particular case but on the transience and relativity of truth. What is true from your perspective might not be so from mine. A condemnable act might have a backstory that would make it not so condemnable. That is where the stress finally landed, that is why the name was changed.

How different is Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei going to be from Ek Ruka Hua Faisla?

Srijit: Oh, a whole lot of different. You have already seen in the trailer, this is not going to be a chamber drama. I wanted to give it a new life, a new spin. That is the fun of adapting a classic text. Devdas can become Dev D. Macbeth can be made into Maqbool. Structures have been broken, backstories have been added. India does not even have a jury system in place now. We have female members on the jury, and new issues, social stigmas and prejudices have been explored.

Koushik: The inclusion of two women members in the jury is very relevant, particularly when you think of today’s India or present day West Bengal. That really adds a lot.

Srijit: And I was not trying to be politically correct by giving representation to the various sections of the society.

Koushik: It’s a very political film.

The scene that stands out in the trailer is the one where the jury deliberates on the case in the middle of a sea. How difficult was it to shoot?

Srijit: There is a constant interplay between a dream and memories in the film, which is why you will see a lot of bizarre settings. These people are also friends and relatives, or connected to each other in a number of ways. Their configuration, or placement, was logistically a nightmare. But since we did the acting rehearsals the characters became a matter of muscle memory for the actors.

Which is why, however extenuating may be the circumstances — may be, Kanchan Mullick is being taken away by a wave, or Rahul Banerjee is drowning, Sauraseni Maitra is nowhere to be seen and suddenly pops up like a mermaid, and in the middle of all this chaos, Koushik Sen is giving an immaculate cue and Kaushik Ganguly is taking that cue and delivering an immaculate performance — it all fell into place.

Koushik: And this was possible because of the acting rehearsals.

(To Koushik Sen) While you had a guest appearance in Srijit’s Tekka (2023), your last big-screen collaboration with him was in Zulfiqar. How was it to be back on his set after all these years?

Koushik: It’s always very, very refreshing. Srijit has a great strength, which at times becomes his weakness — his arrogance. But I love his arrogance. (Srijit laughs). As a theatre director myself, I love this attitude of his, how he tackles the entire unit. I cherish that.

Srijit: On my part I want to say that whenever I go to war I want my comrades not only to be armed but in full command of the craft of wielding that ammunition. I have worked with actors who come up to me and say, I have forgotten my arms at home. And here is an actor who comes to the battlefield and tells me, ‘I have a cannon, a sword, a pistol and a rifle. Now you tell me what you need’.