Houseful shows, rapturous applause and happy faces have signalled the box-office sweep of Srijit Mukherji’s Kakababur Protyaborton. “I’m overjoyed. It is doing such huge numbers,” smiles Srijit, who was in town for two days. A The Telegraph chat.
You had said the film is dedicated to your daughter Ayra and every child who has grown up reading Chander Pahar and watching The Lion King. Has Ayra seen it?
Yes, she loved it. Ayra has gone to Africa so many times with Mithila (wife). She knows what it is. She loved the elephant and rhino (rhinoceros) sequence. She loved seeing the wildebeest running.
Tell us about the compliments you are receiving....
It is coming from children... and adults... who have enjoyed not only Kakababu’s adventure but also got out of their homes after a long time and landed straight into the Masai Mara Game Reserve. It is almost like a VR thing. For me the design was also like that.
It is very immersive.
Yes, and it was absolutely designed to be a travelogue. Those who know their Kakababu know that Kakababu stories are more than anything else travelogues. Adventure-travelogue-explorations. Not detective stories. In fact, Kakababu hates being called a detective. You’ll get adventure thrills, and the essence of travelling. I had told Soumik (cinematographer) that we should get as real as a Discovery or Animal Planet feature. It should be the real thing and it should be a spectacle.
The scene with the elephant and rhino is one of the high points of the film. How did you manage to shoot it? Were they (Prosenjit and Aryann) actually in the same frame, and in the middle between the two animals?
Yes! Kakababur Protyaborton’s triumph is everything was real. My design was that I will not VFX animals. We shot with real animals, some of which were at a life risk. The hyenas did not have a handler (first sequence). When we were filming the hyenas, we were in a cage. Coming back to the scene, Bumbada was five or six feet away from the elephant. Finally the elephant charged. The handler rushed to intercept the elephant, and diverted its attention... his body came into the frame slightly, which we had to erase. Otherwise it was Bumbada and the elephant. There was nothing in between. And Bumbada could not turn since the scene demanded him not to turn.
Here’s another story. Just before the shoot in the morning, the owner of the rhino regaled Bumbada with the story of his uncle who got killed by a rhino. I saw Bumbada’s face... and I did not go in front of him!
After the shoot of this scene got over, Bumbada was like: ‘What else do you want me to do? Do you want me to ride the rhino?!’
This sequence was the high point of the story, which is much more of a travelogue. I have added a lot of thrills to the story. The story is slightly pedantic, which stresses a lot on the message more than the thrill of the adventure.
For the first time I was shooting with real animals, and three or four of them did not have handlers. That means you are at the mercy of those animals. They can do anything.
How long did it take to shoot that particular scene?
Four-five hours. When the elephant charged, I was also running behind the handler just in case!
What happened with the cheetah sequence as it came down from the tree?
I did the camera for that scene. We were shooting and suddenly this guy decided to come down from the tree and walked up to Bumbada and Aryann! They just froze. Luckily it was a cheetah... cheetah is not that ferocious... a leopard is much more dangerous.
The shoot with the lion went off smoothly?
Yes... but by that time Bumbada had come to know about Covid and he felt that going back home might be a problem. This was the last day of shoot. We just made it.
How did you plan the shooting schedule?
Shooting with animals is so unpredictable, you can have an entire day without a single shot. We had to wait a lot. Which is why it was damn difficult to plan the schedule beforehand. We kept half a day for the elephant. If the mood was bad, then full day. If the mood was really bad, then two days for the elephant. We had multiple schedules depending on the moods of the elephant, rhino, lion, hyena. There were no call times (laughs). One important thing was getting visibility near the waterbody. You had to wait throughout the day.
One of the observations about the film was that the second half was packed with thrills whereas the first half was a bit tame in comparison....
That’s the structure of the story. I could have injected a few thrills in the first half as well but apart from the phone call and the attempt on his life with the car, nothing much happens in the story also. There was no scope to introduce thrills in the first part. People need to understand Kakababu was also about a lot of information for children. It was actually like Animal Planet or National Geographic to a large extent where Kakababu tells various facts and aspects about Africa. In the Eighties it was gold dust. But now, you have everything on the Internet. But the point of making Kakababu is to hark back to those days of innocence. So that you understand it is also a part of our growing up years, also a part of our childhood.
Tell us about the homage to Jatayu and Lion King.
I heard a few people say that the homage was a bit too much. There was a reason. The homage was in the entire climax not just in the dialogues. I am not merely putting Lion King in the dialogue. In Lion King Simba’s father dies because of the stampede. So the climax is a direct visual tribute.
For the Jatayu part, from the beginning I was setting up this character as a prototype of Jatayu. In our psyche, Jatayu is the nice guy. They don’t get nicer and more innocent than Jatayu. People don’t get more loving and adorable than Jatayu. Which is why whenever whatever that happens, it hits you so hard. The Jatayu homage-giving was a set-up to structure the character so that the impact of the twist is maximised. Casting Anirban (Chakraborti) here was absolutely crucial. I could take the audience into confidence, give them the comfort zone... all that was a set-up. I couldn’t do the set-up without the homage, right? That’s why the twist is so powerful. Anirban is one of the finest actors we have now.
You have a key role in the film. Why did you have someone else dubbing for you?
I wanted a new voice to add a bit of an intrigue. There is something odd about the character. That additional layer of discomfort is what I aimed at. I wanted to create a sense of uneasiness.
You are now doing a lot of work in Bombay. Recently you were busy with the post-production work of two Hindi films that you have directed — Shabaash Mithu (starring Taapsee Pannu) and Sherdil (starring Pankaj Tripathi)....
Yes, I am doing a lot of work there. But there are certain stories that can only be narrated and executed in Bengali to Bengal. In Bombay, I have signed on multiple films and web series.
Can you tell us the genres that you are working on in Bollywood?
There is a romantic comedy, two thrillers, a cop drama and a literary adaptation.
How will you fit your Bengali films in this schedule?
The timelines for the Bengali films are sacrosanct and fixed. I’m starting the shoot of the new Feluda web series in March...
When is Joto Kando Kathmandute releasing?
If things go well, you might get to see it during Poila Baisakh.
You have started 2022 by striking box-office gold with Kakababur Protyaborton.
Yes, this is really special. The last two years have been tough for Bangla cinema (because of the pandemic). I am so happy that all of us... from Kakababu to Baba, Baby O, Tonic and Golondaaj have been successful. It is a collaborative process... making films that will force people to come to the theatres. Therein lies the real success.
Do you miss Kolkata?
I carry my Kolkata with me when I am in Bombay. When I’m in Kolkata, I carry my Mumbai with me.