Houseful shows, rave reviews and rapturous applause have signalled the box-office sweep of Anirban Bhattacharya’s film Ballabhpurer Roopkotha, which tells the story of Ballabhpur Rajbari’s last descendant. Based on Badal Sarkar’s popular drama piece, Ballabhpurer Roopkotha zeroes in on the crumbling Rajbari of Ballabhpur, which only has two men living in it, the last descendant of the Ray dynasty, Bhupati Ray, and Monohor. The dynasty merely exists as there is no trace of wealth. Bhupati is overburdened with heavy debts until one day he gets a proposal to sell off the property. What continues is a hullabaloo of events revolving around Bhupati Ray, Monohor, the buyers and a ghost that makes Ballabhpur Rajbari a place of chaos for that night. The Telegraph chats with Satyam Bhattacharya, Surangana Bandopadhyay, Shyamal Chakraborty and Debraj Bhattacharya, the actors from the film.

You have visited many theatres after the release of the film. How’s the response there?

Debraj Bhattacharya: The feedback has been amazing, though the nature of the response, the way one expresses oneself, has been quite distinctive. You’ll get a certain kind of response in a single-screen theatre, which is different from a multiplex one.

Satyam Bhattacharya: In a single-screen theatre, people would walk up to us, congratulate us and start clapping.

Shyamal Chakraborty: The response has been very generous, spontaneous and warm.

Surangana Bandopadhyay: The innocence of the audience in single-screen theatres is quite striking. We loved that. And people have said that after a long time a Bengali film made them really laugh out loud. People have blessed us and have asked us some really nice questions after the show.

Satyam: After the film got over at a single-screen theatre, the crowd walked out of the theatre, and came up to our cars. We heard a mother tell her son: ‘Look, the Raja is leaving now.’

Has anyone from the audience come up with a request for a sequel?

Debraj: Yes! There have many requests.

Satyam: Especially after watching the last scene, some have wondered whether there is a possibility of a sequel. And people are watching it multiple times... many have watched it five-six times. Before watching the film, many had felt that Anirbanda would have a cameo in the film.

Any fave compliment?

Satyam: My elder brother said: ‘You have put in a lot of hard work to play this character.’ That’s a huge compliment for me.

Shyamal: People from my theatre group jokingly asked: ‘Dada, will this be the end of our group?!’ People are showering me with compliments. Some have taken pictures with me.

Debraj: Anirban and I have been friends for many years. And it felt really special when he praised my performance. Some of the people whose views mean a lot to me have complimented me on the music and its melodious nature.

Surangana: The way Riddhi Sen wrote about my performance in his review (that came out in The Telegraph) really moved me. It was really special for me.

Debraj, did your friendship with Anirban ever overlap with the work?

Debraj: Never. Anirban is very serious about his work. He is a perfectionist. On the first day of the shoot I had a few questions... that related to lensing. And Anirban was like, ‘Who is sitting at the monitor?! I’m here, it is okay.’

Satyam: After that we did not have any questions! I was there in Mandaar... and we knew everything before the shoot. Now that I was acting in this film, I had tremendous curiosity about the shots and how Anirbanda would place them.

He had the whole film in his head.... he could visualise it. And shooting this film was much more difficult than Mandaar. We would enter a different head space once we started shooting in that hall. A visual monotony had set in. Of course, Anirbanda had his ideas about how to break that visual monotony on screen. He had it all figured out but we did not know about it then.

Shyamal: Now when I think about it... it is amazing how the house was explored visually.

Satyam: Mandaar was technically easier than Ballabhpur... Mandaar was mostly shot in natural light. It was done mostly outdoor and across many locations. Meanwhile, an indoor shoot requires a different kind of set-up to light up the scenes. Anirbanda gave a pep talk on the first day of the Mandaar shoot. The same thing happened during Ballabhpur. And everyone understood that this shoot was not going to be like the other ones.

Did the house in Karimpur where you shot the film give off those spooky vibes?

Debraj: Yes, it was very apt actually... it was the perfect house to shoot Ballabhpur. No one disturbed us there (laughs).

Satyam: All of us had done extensive rehearsals before the shoot... Shyamalda and I arrived at the house in Karimpur two days before the shoot... so that we could become familiar with the house, with its nooks and corners... so that we could walk up and down the staircase, or move from one room to the next, to make it seem organic during shoot.

What’s your favourite moment from the film?

Surangana: My scene with Sanjib and the whole confusion around his moustache. My character comes up with such innocent questions and Sanjib gives such quirky replies.

Debraj: To see Anirban smile as he watched me perform! That was my fave moment.

Satyam: The emotional moment between Bhupati and Raghuda.

Surangana: I feel it is the soul of the film, it is beautiful.

Satyam: People have complimented me on that scene. Also, one of my favourites is the first shot... between Bhupati and Monohor. It was my first scene with Shyamalda and it’s very special. It was a good start to something. I got the confidence after doing that scene.

Shyamal: The time we spent together shooting in Karimpur. It was a unique experience.

How would you describe Anirban, the director? What are his strengths as a director?

Surangana: The fact that he retained the simplicity, and made the film with so much honesty. Also, he directs a film or a series only when he feels like saying something.

Debraj: Anirban’s vast knowledge, and the way he applies it.

Satyam: His homework, and that really helps us. And he would make sure that all of us do our homework really well too. That’s really important. That’s why everyone on his team is so involved.

Shyamal: The way he nurtures the film like his own child... with so much care. That is Anirban’s speciality.

Pictures: Rashbehari Das