The new film Chabiwala — starring Rahul, Amrita Chattopadhyay, Sohag Sen, Dhritiman Chaterji, Koushik Kar among others — is the story of a group of people who are entangled in each others’ life unknowingly — a young key maker Bhaben, his lost love, the village headman’s daughter Fatima, an old key maker Nagen, a writer Amlan, a criminal lawyer Zaira and few more characters. A Telegraph chat with Amrita...
Why the title Chabiwala?
I guess all of us keep hoping that a secret key will open all the locks of our life one day and free us from our troubles. These characters are no exception. Hence the title.
Koushik
Tell us about your character in the film...
Fatima is the headman’s daughter of a village. She falls in love with a key maker, who is without any apparent high ambition in life. She gets married to another man, is shifted to a city and life happens to her. And she, absolutely alone, tries to get to the truth, and decide the course of her life all by herself this time.
Rahul
What is the best part about the storyline?
Most of us are very serious about life. We take everything, every situation and their outcome very seriously. While there still exists people who do not take life or themselves very seriously. And life has magical ways of rewarding them. The way both types exist in society and in our storyline is something which has fascinated me.
Sohag Sen
Tell us about your co-actors...
Koushik Kar plays Bhaben, the young key maker. Koushikda is a trained and regular theatre actor, and I was aware of his body of work. We developed a great camaraderie during the shooting. Sohagdi is there as Zaira. I have workshopped with her few years before the film, I am her student. So it was a bit scary acting alongside her. But she made me very comfortable. Then there is Subhasish Mukherjee, Rahulda, Dhritiman Chaterji and many more fascinating actors.
Subhasish
How was the shooting experience?
Since it was an independent film, it was shot on a shoestring budget for 20 days, spread over and outside the city... the whole approach was minimalistic. The story required a certain level of vulnerability, rawness, which was probably possible because it was such an intimate small unit. I want to thank our director Raja Ghosh for casting me as Fatima, and for allowing me to access a gamut of emotions. Our DoP is Prasenjit Chowdhury and Anirban Maity has edited the film.
Dhritiman
Is the film traveling the fest circuit? How is the response?
The film has started its journey. It has been selected in the 17th Thrissur International Film Festival in the Indian Panorama section. It’s an honour for the whole team to see our film getting selected in an esteemed state festival. It’s our first screening, and we are very excited. Hopefully this is just the beginning of our festival journey. Fingers crossed.